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SHE ADDED WOOD TO THE FIRE 




A LITTLE MAID 


OF 



BY 

Alice Turner Curtis 


AUTHOR OF 

A Little Maid of Province Town 
A Little Maid of Massachusetts Colony 
A Little Maid of Narragansett Bay 
A Little Maid of Bunker Hill 
A Little Maid of Ticonderoga 
A Little Maid of Old Connecticut 
A Little Maid of Old Philadelphia 


Illustrated by Elizabeth Pilsbry 



THE PENN PUBLISHING 
COMPANY PHILADELPHIA 
1920 



COPYRIGHT 
1920 BY 
THE PENN 
PUBLISHING 
COMPANY 



A Little Maid of Old Maine 


OCT -2 1920 

JLO- 1717^ 

©CI,A597613 


Introduction 


“A Little Maid of Old Maine ” is a true 
story of the brave effort of two girls to bring help 
to a little settlement on the Maine coast at the 
time of the War of the Revolution. Parson 
Lyon, the father of Melvina, was a friend and 
correspondent of Washington, and the capture of 
the English gunboat by the Machias men is often 
referred to in history as “ The Lexington of the 
Seas,” being the first naval battle after the Lex- 
ington encounter. 

The story is based on facts, and its readers can- 
not fail to be interested and touched by the cour- 
age and patriotism of Rebecca and Anna Weston 
as they journeyed through the forest after the 
powder that was to make possible the conquest 
of America’s foe. 


3 



Contents 


I 

I 

I 


I 


I. 

A Liberty Pole 




9 

II. 

Rebecca's Secret . 




19 

III. 

Melvina Makes Discoveries 




33 

IV. 

At Mr. Lyon’s 




45 

V. 

A Birthday . 




57 

VI. 

Lucia Has a Plan . 




68 

VII. 

“A Traitor’s Deed ” . 




79 

VIII. 

“ White Witches ” 




90 

IX. 

Rebecca’s Visit 




102 

/ X. 

An Afternoon Walk . 




112 

XI. 

An Exchange of Visits . 




121 

XII. 

Wild Honey . 




133 

XIII. 

Dov 7 N the River . 




H 3 

XIV. 

An Uninvited Guest 




152 

XV. 

Rebby and Lucia . 




165 

XVI. 

Rebby Decides 


. 


178 

XVII. 

A Perilous Journey 


• 


189 

XVIII. 

Triumph 


• 


205 


5 






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Illustrations 

She Added Wood to the Fire . . . Frontispiece 

PAGE 

“We’ll Wade Out to Flat Rock” ... 34 

“ But Which One Is to Be Mine ? ” , . *77 
How Long the Afternoon Seemed ! . . .127 
A Man Came Around the Corner of the House 175 


A Little Maid of Old Maine 


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A Little Maid of Old Maine 


CHAPTER I 

A LIBERTY POLE 

Anna and Rebecca Weston, carrying a big 
basket between them, ran along the path that led 
from their home to the Machias River. It was a 
pleasant May morning in 1775, and the air was 
filled with the fragrance of the freshly cut pine 
logs that had been poled down the river in big 
rafts to be cut into planks and boards at the big 
sawmills. The river, unusually full with the 
spring rains, dashed against its banks as if invit- 
ing the little girls to play a game with it. Usually 
Anna and Rebecca were quite ready to linger at 
the small coves which crept in so near to the foot- 
path, and sail boats made of pieces of birch-bark, 
with alder twigs for masts and broad oak leaves 
for sails. They named these boats Polly and 
Unity, after the two fine sloops which carried 
lumber from Machias to Boston and returned 
9 


10 A LITTLE MAID 

with cargoes of provisions for the little settle- 
ment. 

But this morning the girls hurried along with- 
out a thought for such pleasant games. They 
were both anxious to get to the lumber yard as 
soon as possible, not only to fill their basket with 
chips, as their mother had bidden them, but to 
hear if there were not some news of the Polly ^ the 
return of which was anxiously awaited; for pro- 
visions were getting scarce in this remote village, 
and not until the Polly should come sailing into 
harbor could there be any sugar cakes, or even 
bread made of wheat fiour. 

As they hurried along they heard the cheerful 
whistle of Mr. Worden Foster, the blacksmith, 
who was just then taking a moment of well- 
earned leisure in the door of his shop, and stood 
looking out across the quiet waters of the river 
and harbor. As the girls came near he nodded 
pleasantly, but did not stop whistling. People 
in IMachias declared that the blacksmith woke up 
in the morning whistling, and never stopped ex- 
cept to eat. And, indeed, his little daughter 
Luretta said that when her father wanted a sec- 
ond helping of anything at the table he would 
whistle and point toward it with his knife; so it 


OF OLD MAINE 11 

might be said that Mr. Foster whistled even at 
his meals, 

“There’s Father! There’s Father!” Anna 
called out as they passed a big pile of pine logs 
and came to where stacks of smooth boards just 
from the sawmill shut the river from sight. 

“ Well, Danna, do you and Rebby want your 
basket filled with golden oranges from sunny 
Italy and dates from Egj^pt? Or shall it be with 
Brazilian nuts and ripe pineapples from South 
America? ” 

“Oh, Father! Say some more!” exclaimed 
Anna, laughing with delight; for she never tired 
of hearing her father tell of the wonderful fruits 
of far-off lands that he had seen in his sailor days, 
before he came to live in the little settlement of 
Machias, in the Province of Maine, and manage 
the big sawmill. 

“ Father, tell us, is the Polly coming up the 
bay? ” Rebecca asked eagerly. She had a par- 
ticular reason for wanting the sloop to reach 
harbor as soon as possible, for her birthday was 
close at hand, and her father had told her that the 
Polly was bringing her a fine gift; but what it 
was Rebecca could not imagine. She had guessed 
everything from a gold ring to a prayer-book; 


12 


A LITTLE MAID 


but at every guess her father had only smilingly 
shook his head. 

“No sign of the Polly yet, Rebby,” Mr. Wes- 
ton replied. 

Rebecca sighed as her father called her 
“ Rebby,” and a little frown showed itself on her 
forehead. She was nearly fourteen, and she had 
decided that neither “ Rebecca ” nor “ Rebby ” 
were names that suited her. Her middle name 
was “ Flora,” and only that morning Anna had 
promised not to call her by any other name save 
Flora in future. 

lSli\ Weston smiled down at Rebecca’s serious 
face. 

“ So ’tis not spices from far Arabia, or strings 
of pink coral, this morning,” he continued, taking 
the basket, “ but pine chips. Well, come over 
here and we will soon fill the basket,” and he led 
the way to where two men were at work with 
sharp adzes smoothing down a big stick of 
timber. 

In a few minutes the basket was filled, and the 
little girls were on their way home. 

“ Would it not be a fine thing, Rebby, if we 
could really fill our basket with pineapples and 
sweet-smelling spices?” said Anna, her brown 


OF OLD MAINE 


13 


eyes looking off into space, as if she fancied she 
could see the wonderful things of which her father 
spoke; “ and do you not wish that we were both 
boys, and could go sailing off to see far lands? ” 
“Anna! Only this morning you promised to 
call me ‘ Flora,’ and now it is ‘ Rebby,’ ‘ Rebby.’ 
And as for ‘ far lands ’ — of course I don’t want 
to see them. Have you not heard Father say 
that there were no more beautiful places in all the 
world than the shores of this Province? ” re- 
sponded Rebecca reprovingly. She sometimes 
thought that it would have been far better if 
Anna had really been a boy instead of a girl ; for 
the younger girl delighted to be called “ Dan,” 
and had persuaded her mothet to keep her brown 
curls cut short “ like a boy’s ” ; beside this, Anna 
cared little for dolls, and was completely happy 
when her father would take her with him for a 
day’s deep-sea fishing, an excursion which Re- 
becca could never be persuaded to attempt. 
Anna was also often her father’s companion on 
long tramps in the woods, where he went to mark 
trees to be cut for timber. She wore moccasins 
on these trips, made by the friendly Indians who 
often visited the little settlement, and her mother 
had made her a short skirt of tanned deerskin. 


14 . 


A LITTLE MAID 


such as little Indian girls sometimes wear, and 
with her blue blouse of homespun flannel, and 
round cap with a partridge wing on one side, 
Anna looked like a real little daughter of the 
woods as she trotted sturdily along beside her tall 
father. 

As the sisters passed the blacksmith shop they 
could hear the ringing stroke on the anvil, for 
Mr. Foster had returned to his work of hammer- 
ing out forks for pitching hay and grain; these 
same forks which were fated to be used before 
many months passed as weapons against the 
enemies of American liberty. 

‘‘ To-morrow I am to go with Father to the 
woods,” announced Anna as they came in sight of 
the comfortable log cabin which stood high above 
the river, and where they could see their mother 
standing in the doorway looking for their return. 
The girls waved and called to their mother as 
they hurried up the path. 

“We have fine chips, Mother,” called Re- 
becca, while Anna in a sing-song tone called out: 
“ Pineapples and sweet-smelling spices ! Strings 
of pink coral and shells from far lands.” 

Rebecca sighed to herself as she heard Anna’s 
laughing recital of their father’s words. She 


OF OLD MAINE 15 

resolved to ask her mother to forbid Anna talk- 
ing in future in such a silly way. 

“You are good children to go and return so 
piromptly,” said Mrs. Weston, “ but you are 
none too soon, for ’twill take a good blow with the 
bellows to liven up the coals, and I have a fine 
venison steak to broil for dinner,” and as she 
spoke Mrs. Weston took the basket and hurried 
into the house, followed by the girls. 

“Mother, what is a ‘liberty pole’?” ques- 
tioned Anna, loieeling on the hearth to help her 
mother start the fire with the pine chips. 

“ What dost thou mean, child? Surely the 
men are not talking of such matters as liberty 
poles?” responded her mother anxiously. 

Anna nodded her head. “ Yes, Mother. 
There is to be a ‘ liberty pole ’ set up so it can be 
well seen from the harbor, for so I heard Mr. 
O’Brien say; and Father is to go to the woods 
to-morrow to find it. It is to be the straightest 
and handsomest sapling pine to be found in a 
day’s journey; that much I know,” declared 
Anna eagerly; “ but tell me why is it to be called 
a ‘ liberty pole ’? And why is it to be set up so it 
can be well seen from the harbor? ” 

“ Thou knowest, Anna, that King George of 


16 


A LITTLE MAID 

England is no longer the true friend of American 
liberty,” said Mrs. Weston, “ and the liberty pole 
is set up to show all Tories on land or sea that we 
mean to defend our homes. And if the men are 
talking of putting up the tree of liberty in Ma- 
chias I fear that trouble is near at hand. But be 
that as it may, our talking of such matters will 
not make ready thy father’s dinner. Blaze up 
the fire with these chips, Anna; and thou, Rebby, 
spread the table.” 

Both the girls hastened to obey; but Anna’s 
thoughts were pleasantly occupied with the mor- 
row’s excursion when she would set forth with her 
father to discover the “ handsome sapling pine 
tree,” which was to be erected as the emblem of 
the loyalty of the Machias settlement to Free- 
dom’s call. Anna knew they would follow one 
of the Indian trails through the forest, where she 
would see many a wild bird, and that the day 
would be filled with delight. 

But Rebecca’s thoughts were not so pleasant. 
Here it was the fifth of May, and no sign of the 
Polly, and on the tenth she would be fourteen; 
and not a birthday gift could she hope for unless 
the sloop arrived. Beside this, the talk of a lib- 
erty pole in Machias made her anxious and im- 


OF OLD MAINE 


17 


happy. Only yesterday she had spent the after- 
noon with her most particular friend, Lucia 
Horton, whose father was captain of the Polly; 
and Lucia had told Rebecca something of such 
importance, after vowing her to secrecy, that this 
talk of a liberty pole really frightened her. And 
the thought that her own father was to select it 
brought the danger very near. She wished that 
Lucia had kept the secret to herself, and became 
worried and unhappy. 

Rebecca was thinking of these things, and not 
of spreading the table, when she went to the cup- 
board to bring out the pewter plates, and she 
quite forgot her errand until her mother called: 

“ Rebby ! Rebby ! What are you about in the 
cupboard? ” Then, bringing only one plate in- 
stead of four, she came slowly back to the kitchen. 

“ What ails the child? ” questioned Mrs. Wes- 
ton sharply. “ I declare, I believe both of my 
children are losing their wits. Here is Anna 
making rhymes and sing-songing her words in 
strange fashion; and thou, Rebecca, a girl of 
nearly fourteen, careless of thy work, and stand- 
ing before me on one foot like a heron, staring at 
naught,” and Mrs. Weston hurried to the pantry 
for the forgotten dishes. 


18 


A LITTLE MAID 


Anna smiled at her mother’s sharp words, for 
she did not mind being called a silly girl for 
rhyming words. “ ’Tis no harm,” thought Anna, 
“ and my father says ’tis as natural as for the 
birds to sing; ” so she added more chips to the 
fire, and thought no more of it. 

But Rebecca, who was used to being praised 
for her good sense and who was seldom found 
fault with, had looked at her mother in surprise, 
and the pewter plate fell from her hands and 
went clattering to the floor. At that moment the 
door swung open and Mr. Weston entered the 
kitehen. 

“ Father! Father! ” exclaimed Rebecca, run- 
ning toward him, “ you won’t put up a liberty 
pole, will you? You won’t! Promise you won’t. 
Father!” and she clasped his arm with both 
hands. 


CHAPTER II 


REBECCA^’S SECRET 

Mr. Weston looked down smilingly at his 
little daughter. He was evidently amused at her 
excitement. 

“ Is this the little girl who was born in loyal 
Boston?’’ he questioned; for Rebecca was six 
years of age and Anna three when their parents 
came to this far-off place to make their home. 
Eastern Maine was then a wilderness, and this 
little village was not connected with the outside 
world except by the Indian trails or by the sailing 
craft which plied up and down the coast. But 
its citizens were soon to write a page of heroism 
and valor in their country’s history. 

“ Of course Machias is to have a liberty pole,” 
continued Mr. Weston. “ It has been so decided 
by a vote in a town meeting; and Dan and I will 
start off in good season to-morrow morning to 
look for the finest pine sapling in the forest. It 
will be a great day for the village when ’tis set up, 
with its waving green plume to show that we are 
X9 


20 


A LITTLE MAID 


pledged to resist England’s injustice to her long- 
suffering colonies.” 

It was the custom to leave a tuft of verdure at 
the top of the liberty tree as an emblem, the best 
they had at command, of the flag they meant to 
fight for. 

Before her father had finished speaking Re- 
becca had relinquished her grasp on his arm and 
ran toward the cupboard, and neither her father 
nor mother gave much thought to her anxious 
question. The venison was just ready to serve, 
and Mrs. Weston hurried from the fireplace to 
the table, on which Rebecca had now placed the 
dishes, while Mr. Weston and Anna talked hap- 
pily together over the proposed excursion on the 
following day. 

“ I am afraid that we may have to postpone 
our journey,” said Mr. Weston, “ for I noticed 
the gulls were coming in flocks close to the shore, 
and you know : 

‘When sea-birds fly to land 
A storm is at hand. ’ ’ ’ 

“But look at Malty,” responded Anna quickly, 
pointing to the fat Maltese cat who was indus- 
triously washing her face: 


OF OLD MAINE 


21 


^ ^ ‘ If the cat washes her face over the ear 

Tis a sign the weather’ll be fine and clear,’ ” 

quoted the little girl; “ and you told me ’twas a 
sure sign, Father; and ’tis what Matty is doing 
this minute.” 

“ To be sure,” laughed Mr. Weston, “ both 
are sure signs, and so we will hope for fair 
weather.” 

Rebecca was very silent at dinner, and as the 
sisters began to clear away the dishes Anna 
watched her with troubled eyes. 

“ Perhaps it's because I called her ‘ Rebby,’ ” 
thought the little girl regretfully. ‘‘ I’ll tell her 
I am sorry,” and when their mother left the 
kitchen Anna whispered: 

“ Flora, I forgot when I called you ‘ Rebby.’ 
But I will now surely remember. You are not 
vexed at me, are you?” and Anna leaned her 
head against her sister’s arm and looked up at her 
pleadingly. 

Rebecca sniffed a little, as if trying to keep 
back the tears. She wished she could talk over 
her worries with Anna ; but of course that would 
never do. 

“ I believe I’d rather be called ‘ Rebby,’ ” she 


A LITTLE MAID 


managed to say, to the surprise of her younger 
sister. ‘‘ Do you suppose they really mean to 
put up a liberty pole? ” 

“ Of course,” responded Anna. “ I heard the 
minister say that it must be done.” 

Rebby sighed dolefully. She was old enough 
to understand the talk she heard constantly of 
His Majesty’s ships of war capturing the Amer- 
ican fishing sloops, and of the many troubles 
caused to peaceable Americans all along the 
coast; and she, like all the American children, 
loiew that their rights must be defended; but 
Lucia Horton’s talk had frightened and confused 
Rebecca’s thoughts. To set up a liberty pole 
now seemed to her a most dangerous thing to do, 
and something that would bring only trouble. 

She wished with all her heart that she could tell 
her father all that Lucia had told her. But that 
she could not do because of her promise. Re- 
becca knew that a promise was a sacred thing, not 
to be broken. 

“ Rebby, will you not go to the bluff with me? 
’Twill be pleasant there this afternoon, and we 
could see the Polly if she chances to come into 
harbor to-day,” said Anna. 

“ You had best ask Luretta Foster, Danna,” 


OF OLD MAINE 


23 


she answered quickly. “ I am sure Mother will 
want my help with her quilting this afternoon.” 

Rebby so often played at being “ grown up ” 
that this reply did not surprise Anna, and she ran 
off to find her mother and ask permission to go 
to the shore with Luretta Foster, a girl of about 
her own age. Mrs. Weston gave her consent, 
and in a few moments the little girl was running 
along the river path toward the blacksmith shop 
where a short path led to Luretta’s home. 

Anna often thought that there could not be 
another little girl in all the world as pretty as 
Luretta. Luretta was not as tall or as strongly 
made as Anna; her eyes were as blue as the 
smooth waters of the harbor on a summer’s day; 
her hair was as yellow as the floss on an ear of 
corn, and her skin was not tanned brown like 
Anna’s, but was fair and delicate. Beside her 
Anna looked more like a boy than ever. But 
Luretta admired Anna’s brown eyes and short 
curly hair, and was quite sure that there was no 
other little girl who could do or say such clever 
things as Anna Weston. So the two little girls 
were always well pleased with each other’s com- 
l^any, and to-day Luretta was quite ready to go 
down to the shore and watch for the Polly, Mrs. 


24 


A LITTLE MAID 


Foster tied on the big sunbonnet which Luretta 
always wore out-of-doors, and the two friends 
started off. 

“ Will it not be fine if the Polly reaches harbor 
to-day? ” said Anna. “ My father says she will 
bring sugar and molasses and spices, and it may 
be the Unity will come sailing in beside her 
loaded with things from far lands. Do you not 
wish our fathers were captains of fine sloops, 
Luretta, so that perhaps we could go sailing off 
to Boston? ’’ 

But Luretta shook her head. “ I’d much 
rather journey by land,” she answered; “ but ’tis 
said the Polly is to bring a fine silk gown for 
Mistress Lyon; ’tis a present from her sister in 
Boston, and two dolls for Melvina Lyon. Why 
is it that ministers’ daughters have so many 
gifts? ” and Luretta sighed. Her only doll was 
made of wood, and, though it was very dear to 
her, Luretta longed for a doll with a china head 
and hands, such as the fortunate little daughter 
of the minister already possessed. 

“ I care not for Melvina Lyon, if she be a min- 
ister’s daughter,” Anna responded bravely. 
“ She can do nothing but sew and knit and make 
fine cakes, and read from grown-up books. She 


OF OLD MAINE 


25 


is never alloAved to go fishing, or wade in the cove 
on warm days, or go off in the woods as I do. I 
doubt if Melvina Lyon could tell the difference 
’twixt a partridge and heron, or if she could tell 
a spruce tree from a fir. And as for presents, 
hers are of no account. They are but dolls, and 
silver thimbles and silk aprons. Why! did not 
my father bring me home a fine beaver skin for a 
hood, and a pair of duck’s wings, and a pair of 
moccasins the very last time he went north 1 ” 
And Anna, out of breath, looked at her friend 
triumphantly. 

“ But Melvina’s things are all bought in stores 
in big towns, and your presents are all from the 
woods, just as if you were a little Indian girl,” 
objected Luretta, who greatly admired the ruf- 
fled gowns of Melvina’s dolls, such as no other 
little girl in the settlement possessed. 

Anna made no response to this; but she was 
surprised that Luretta should not think as she 
did about the value of her gifts, and rather vexed 
that Melvina Lyon should be praised by her own 
particular friend. 

The girls had passed the sawmill and lumber 
yard, and now turned from the well-traveled path 
to climb a hill where they could catch the first 


2G 


A LITTLE MAID 


glimpse of any sail entering the harbor. Farther 
along this bluff stood the church, not yet quite 
finished, and beyond it the house of the minister, 
the Reverend James Lyon, whose little daughter, 
Melvina, was said to be the best behaved and the 
smartest girl in the settlement. Although only 
ten years old INIelvina had already “ pieced ” four 
patchwork quilts and quilted them ; and her neat 
stitches were the admiration of all the women of 
the town. But most of the little girls were a lit- 
tle in awe of Melvina, who never cared to play 
games, and always brought her knitting or sew- 
ing when she came for an afternoon visit. 

Anna and Luretta sat down on the short grass, 
and for a few moments talked of the Polly, and 
looked in vain for the glimmer of a sail. 

“ Look, Danna! Here comes Melvina now,” 
whispered Luretta, whose quick ears had caught 
the sound of steps. 

Anna looked quickly around. “ She’s all 
dressed up,” she responded. “ See, her skirts set 
out all around her like a wheel.” 

Melvina walked with great care, avoiding the 
rough places, and so intent on her steps that, if 
Anna had not called her name, she would have 
passed without seeing them. She was thin and 


OF OLD MAINE 


27 


dark, and looked more like a little old lady than 
a ten-year-old girl. 

“ How do you do? ” she said, bowing as cere- 
moniously as if Luretta and Anna were grown up 
people of importance. 

“ Come and sit down, Melly, and watch for the 
Polly/’ said Anna. 

“And tell us about the fine dolls that are on 
board for you,” added Luretta quickly. 

A little smile crept over Melvina’s face and she 
took a step toward them, but stopped suddenly. 

“ I fear ’twould not be wise for me to stop,” 
she said a little fearfully; but before she could 
say anything more Anna and Luretta had 
jumped up and ran toward her. 

“ Look ! ” exclaimed Anna, pointing to a flock 
of white gulls that had just settled on the smooth 
water near the shore. 

“ Look, Melly, at the fine partridges! ” 

Melvina’s dark eyes looked in the direction 
Anna pointed. “ Thank you, Anna. How 
white they are, and what a queer noise they 
make,” she responded seriously. 

Anna’s eyes danced with delight as she heard 
Luretta’s half-repressed giggle at Melvina’s re- 
ply. She resolved that Luretta should realize of 


28 


A LITTLE MAID 


how little importance Melvina Lyon, with all her 
dolls, and her starched skirts like wheels, really 
was. 

“And are those not big alder trees, Melly? ” 
she continued, pointing to a group of fine pine 
trees near by. 

Again Melvina’s eyes followed the direction of 
Anna’s pointing finger, and again the minister’s 
little daughter replied politely that the trees were 
indeed very fine alders. 

Luretta was now laughing without any effort 
to conceal her amusement. That any little girl 
in Maine should not know a partridge from a 
gull, or an alder bush from a pine tree, seemed 
too funny to even make it necessary to try to be 
polite; and Luretta was now ready to join in the 
game of finding out how little Melvina Lyon, 
“ the smartest and best-behaved child in the set- 
tlement,” really knew. 

“And, Danna, perhaps Melvina has never seen 
the birds Ave call clams? ” she suggested. 

Melvina looked from Anna to Luretta ques- 
tioningly. These little girls could not be laugh- 
ing at her, she thought, recalling with satisfaction 
that it was well known that she could spell the 
names of every city in Europe, and repeat the list 


OF OLD MAINE 


29 


of all England’s kings and queens. She remem- 
bered, also, that Anna Weston was called a tom- 
boy, and that her mother said it was a scandal for 
a little girl to have short hair. So she again re- 
plied pleasantly that she had never known that 
clams were birds. “ We have them stewed very 
often,” she declared. 

Anna fairly danced about the neat little figure 
in the well-starched blue linen skirt. 

“Oh, Melly! You must come down to the 
shore, and we will show you a clam’s nest,” she 
said, remembering that only yesterday she had 
discovered the nest of a kingfisher in an oak tree 
whose branches nearly touched the shore, and 
could point this out to the ignorant Melvina. 

“ But I am to visit Lucia Horton this after- 
noon, and I must not linger,” objected Mel- 
vina. 

“ It will not take long,” urged Anna, clasping 
Melvina’s arm, while Luretta promptly grasped 
the other, and half led, half pushed the surprised 
and uncertain Melvina along the rough slope. 
Anna talked rapidly as they hurried along. 
“You ought really to see a clam’s nest,” she 
urged, between her bursts of laughter; ‘‘why, 
Melly, even Luretta and I know about clams.” 


30 


A LITTLE MAID 


Anna had not intended to be rude or cruel 
when she first began her game of letting Luretta 
see that Melly and her possessions were of no 
importance, but Melvina’s ignorance of the com- 
mon things about her, as well as her neatly 
braided hair, her white stockings and kid shoes, 
such as no other child in the village possessed, 
made Anna feel as if Melvina was not a real little 
girl, but a dressed-up figure. She chuckled at 
the thought of Luretta’s calling clams “ birds,” 
with a new admiration for her friend. 

“ I guess after this Luretta won’t always be 
talking about Melvina Lyon and her dolls,” she 
thought triumphantly ; and at that moment Mel- 
vina’s foot slipped and all three of the little girls 
went sliding down the sandy bluff. 

The slide did not matter to either Anna or Lu- 
retta, in their stout shoes and every-day dresses 
of coarse flannel, but to the carefully dressed 
Melvina it was a serious mishap. Her starched 
skirts were crushed and stained, her white stock- 
ings soiled, and her slippers scratched. The hat 
of fine-braided straw with its ribbon band, an- 
other “ present ” from the Boston relatives, now 
hung about her neck, and her knitting-bag was 
lost. 


OF OLD MAINE 


31 


As the little girls gathered themselves up Mel- 
vina began to cry. Her delicate hands were 
scratched, and never before in her short life had 
she been so frightened and surprised. 

She pulled herself away from Anna’s effort to 
straighten her hat. “ You are a rough child,” 
she sobbed, “ and I wish I had not stopped to 
speak with you. And my knitting-bag with my 
half-finished stocking is lost!” 

At the sight of Melvina’s tears both Anna and 
Luretta forgot all about showing her a “ clam’s 
nest,” and became seriously frightened. After 
all, Melly was the minister’s daughter, and the 
Reverend Mr. Lyon was a person of importance ; 
why, he even had a colored body-servant, London 
Atus by name, who usually walked behind the 
clergyman carrying his cloak and Bible, and who 
opened the door for visitors. Often Melvina was 
attended in her walks by London, who thought 
his little mistress far superior to the other chil- 
dren. 

‘‘Don’t cry, Melvina,” pleaded Luretta. “We 
will find your bag, and we will wash the stains 
from your stockings and dress, and help you back 
up the slope. Don’t cry,” and Luretta put a 
protecting arm about the frightened Melvina. 


32 


A LITTLE MAID 


Your hat has only slipped from your head; it is 
not hurt at all,” she added consolingly. 

Melvina was finally comforted, and Anna 
climbed up the slope to search for the missing 
bag, while Luretta persuaded Melvina to take off 
her stockings in order that they might be washed. 

‘‘ They’ll dry in no time,” Luretta assured her. 
“ I can wash them out right here in this clean 
puddle, and put them on the warm rocks to dry.” 
So Melvina reluctantly took off her slippers, and 
the pretty open-work stockings, and curling her 
feet under her, sat down on a big rock to watch 
Luretta dip the stockings in the little pool of sea 
water near by, and to send anxious glances to- 
ward the sandy bluff where Anna was searching 
for the missing bag. 


CHAPTER III 


MELVINA MAKES DISCOVERIES 

The sun shone warmly down on the brown 
ledges, the little waves crept up the shore with a 
pleasant murmur, and Melvina, watching Lu- 
retta dipping her white stockings in the pool, be- 
gan to feel less troubled and unhappy; and when 
Anna came running toward her waving the knit- 
ting-bag she even smiled, and was ready to be- 
lieve that her troubles were nearly over. 

In spite of the sunshine dark clouds were gath- 
ering along the western horizon ; but the girls did 
not notice this. Anna and Luretta had forgot- 
ten all about the sloop Polly, and were both now 
a little ashamed of their plan to make sport of 
Melvina. 

“ Here is your bag all safe, Melly,” called 
Anna, ‘‘ and while Luretta is washing your stock- 
ings I’ll rub off those spots on your pretty dress. 
Can’t you step down nearer the water? ” she sug- 
gested, handing the bag to Melvina, who put it 
33 


34 


A LITTLE MAW 


carefully beside her hat and agreed promptly to 
Anna’s suggestion, stepping carefully along the 
rough shore to the edge of the water. The rocks 
hurt her tender feet, but she said nothing; and 
when she was near the water she could not resist 
dipping first one foot and then the other in the 
rippling tide. 

“ Oh, I have always wanted to wade in the 
ocean,” she exclaimed, “ and the water is not 
cold.” 

As Anna listened to Melvina’s exclamation a 
new and wonderful plan came into her thoughts ; 
something she decided that would make up to 
Melvina for her mischievous fun. She resolved 
quickly that Melvina Lyon should have the hap- 
piest afternoon of her life. 

“ Melly, come back a little way and slip off 
your fine skirts. I’ll take off my shoes and stock- 
ings and we’ll wade out to Flat Rock and back. 
Luretta will fix your clothes, won’t you, Lu? ” 
she called, and Luretta nodded. 

The stains did not seem to come out of the 
stockings ; they looked gray and streaked, so Lu- 
retta dipped them again, paying little attention 
to her companions. 

Melvina followed Anna’s suggestion, and her 



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OF OLD MAINE 


35 


starched skirts and hat were left well up the 
beach with Anna’s stout shoes and stockings, and 
the two girls hurried back hand in hand to the 
water’s edge. 

Flat Rock was not far out from the shore, and 
Anna knew that the pebbly beach ended in soft 
mud that would not hurt Melvina’s feet, so she 
led her boldly out. 

‘‘ It’s fun,” declared Melvina, her dark eyes 
dancing as she smiled at Anna, quite forgetting 
all her fears. 

“ It would be more fun if we had on real old 
clothes and could splash,” responded Anna; and 
almost before she finished speaking Melvina 
leaned away from her and with her free hand 
swept the water toward her, spraying Anna and 
herself. In a moment both the girls had for- 
gotten all about their clothes, and were chasing 
each other along the water’s edge splashing in 
good earnest, and laughing and calling each 
other’s names in wild delight. Farther up the 
shore Luretta, a draggled stocking in each hand, 
looked at them a little enviously, and wondered a 
little at the sudden change in Melvina’s behavior. 

‘‘Now show me the clam’s nest!” Melvina 
demanded, as out of breath and thoroughly 


36 A LITTLE MAID 

drenched the two girls stood laughing at each 
other. 

“ All right,” Anna responded promptly. 
“ Come on down to the point,” and followed by 
Melvina, now apparently careless of the rough 
beach, she ran along the shore toward a clam 
bed in the dark mud. 

“ Look! ” she exclaimed, pointing to the black 
flats-mud. “ There is the clam’s nest — in that 
mud. Truly. They are not birds ; they are shell- 
fish. I was only fooling.” 

“ I don’t care,” answered Melvina. “ I shall 
know now what clams really are.” 

‘‘And those birds are gulls, not partridges,” 
continued Anna, pointing to the flock of gulls 
near shore, “ and come here and I will show you 
a real alder,” and the two girls climbed over a 
ledge to where a little thicket of alder bushes 
crept down close to the rocks. 

“And those splendid tall trees are pines,” went 
on Anna, pointing to the group of tall trees on 
the bluff. 

Melvina laughed delightedly. “ Why, you 
know all about everything,” she exclaimed, 
“ even if your hair is short like a boy’s.” 

“ I know all the trees in the forest,” declared 


OF OLD MAINE 


37 


Anna, “ and I know where squirrels hide their 
nuts for winter, and where beavers make their 
houses in the river.” 

The two girls were now beyond the ledge and 
out of sight of Luretta, and Anna was so eager to 
tell Melvina of the wonderful creatures of the 
forest, and Melvina, feeling as if she had discov- 
ered a new world, listened with such pleasure, 
that for the moment they both forgot all about 
Luretta. 

At first Luretta had been well pleased to see 
that Melvina was no longer vexed and unhappy ; 
but when both her companions disappeared, and 
she found herself alone with Melvina’s soiled and 
discarded skirts and the wet stockings, she began 
to feel that she was not fairly treated, and re- 
solved to go home. 

“ Dan can play with Melvina Lyon if she likes 
her so much,” thought Luretta resentfully, and 
started off up the slope. Luretta was nearly as 
tidy as when she left home, so she would have no 
explanations to make on her return. As she 
went up the slope she turned now and then and 
looked back, but there was no sign of Anna or 
Melvina. ‘‘ I don’t care,” thought the little girl 
unhappily. ‘‘ Perhaps they will think I am 


38 


A LITTLE MAID 


drowned when they come back and don’t find 
me.” She had j.ust reached the top of the slope 
and turned toward home when she saw London 
Atus hurrying along the path that led to the 
church. 

“ Perhaps he has been sent after Melvina, and 
can’t find her,” thought Luretta; and she was 
right ; the colored man had been to Captain Hor- 
ton’s house to walk home with his little mistress, 
and had been told that Melvina had not been 
there that afternoon; and he was now hurrying 
home with this alarming news. 

Anna and Melvina were now comfortably 
seated on a grassy knoll near the alder bushes, 
Melvina asking questions about woodland birds, 
and the wild creatures of the forest, which Anna 
answered with delight. 

“ Perhaps you can go with Father and me to 
the forest to-morrow,” said Anna. “ We are go- 
ing to find a liberty pole, and ’twill be a fine 
walk.” 

“ I know about liberty poles,” declared Mel- 
vina eagerly, ‘‘ and my father is well pleased that 
the town is to set one up. But, oh, Anna! surely 
it is time that I went on to my visit with Lucia 
Horton ! ” and Melvina’s face gTCw troubled. 


OF OLD MAINE 39 

“ Do you think Luretta Foster will have my 
clothes in good order? ” 

At Melvina’s words Anna sprang to her feet, 
“ I think she will do her best, and ’tis well for us 
to hurry,” she responded; “ but you have had a 
good time, have you not, Melvina? ” 

“ Oh, yes! I would like well to play about on 
the shore often; but I fear I may never again,” 
said Melvina; her smile had vanished, and she 
looked tired and anxious. 

“ Let us hasten; the tide is coming in now, and 
Luretta will have taken our things up from the 
beach,” said Anna, taking Melvina’s hand and 
hurrying her along over the ledges. “ I am glad 
indeed, Melvina, that we are better acquainted, 
and we will often wade together.” 

But Melvina shook her head dolefully. “ My 
mother does not like me to play out-of-doors,” 
she said. ‘‘ Do you think, Anna, that Luretta is 
quite sure to have my things clean and nice? ” 
The two little girls had now come in sight of 
the place where they had left Luretta. They 
both stopped and looked at each other in dismay, 
for the tide had swept up the beach covering the 
pool where Luretta had endeavored to wash the 
stockings, and the rocks where Aniia and Mel- 


40 


A LITTLE MAID 


vina had left their things, and there was no trace 
either of Luretta or of their belongings. 

“ Luretta has taken our things up the slope/’ 
declared Anna. “ She saw the tide would sweep 
them away, so she did not wait for us.” 

“ But how can we find her? ” wailed Melvina. 
“ I cannot go up the slope barefooted and in my 
petticoat. What would my father say if he met 
me in such a plight? He tells me often to re- 
member to set a good example to other children. 
And I would be ashamed indeed to be seen like 
this.” 

“You do look funny,” Anna acknowledged 
soberly. Her own flannel dress had dried, and, 
except for her bare feet, she looked about as 
usual ; but Melvina’s white petticoat was still wet 
and draggled, her hair untidy, and it was doubt- 
vful if her own father would have recognized her 
at the first glance. 

“ I will go and get your things,” said Anna. 
“ Come up the slope a little way, and sit down be- 
hind those juniper bushes until I come back. 
Luretta must be near the pine trees. I’ll hurry 
right back, and you can dress in a minute.” 

Melvina agreed to this plan, and followed 
Anna slowly up to the jimiper bushes, and 


OF OLD MAINE 


41 


crouched down well under their branches so that 
she was completely hidden from view; while 
Anna scrambled hurriedly up the slope and 
looked anxiously about for some sign of Luretta 
and the missing garments. But there was no 
sign of either ; so she ran along the bluff to where 
the pines offered shelter, thinking Luretta must 
surely be there. 

And now Anna began to be seriously alarmed. 
Perhaps Luretta had been swept out by the tide 
before she could save herself. And at this 
thought Anna forgot all about shoes and stock- 
ings, all Melvina’s fine garments, and even Mel- 
vina herself, and ran as fast as her feet could 
carry her toward Luretta’s home. At the black- 
smith shop she stopped to take breath, and to see 
if Luretta might not, by some happy chance, be 
there; but the shop was silent. Mr. Foster had 
gone home to his supper ; but Anna did not real- 
ize that the hour was so late, and ran swiftly on. 

As she neared the house she stopped suddenly, 
for Luretta was standing in the doorway, and 
Rebecca was beside her, and they were both look- 
ing at Anna. There was no time to turn and 
run back. 

“ Why, Dan ! Where are your shoes and 


42 


A LITTLE MAID 


stockings? ” said Rebecca, coming down the path 
to meet her sister. “ You were so late in coming 
home that Mother sent me to meet you.” 

“ What did Luretta say? ” gasped Anna, 
thinking to herself that if Luretta had told of 
Melvina, and their making sport of her, that 
there was trouble in store for them all. 

“ Luretta hadn’t time to say anything,” re- 
sponded Rebecca, “ for I had just reached the 
door when we saw you coming. Now we’ll get 
your shoes and stockings and start home, for 
Mother is waiting supper for us.” 

“ Luretta has my shoes,” said Anna, and ran 
on to the door, where Luretta was still waiting. 

“ Give me my shoes and stockings; quick, Lu! 
And then take all Melvina’s things and run, as 
fast as you can, to the ” 

“Luretta! Luretta!” called Mrs. Foster; 
and Luretta with a hurried whisper: “ Oh, Anna! 
I haven’t her things. Don’t say a word about 
Melvina,” vanished into the house. 

“ Come, Anna,” called Rebecca reprovingly. 
“ Father will come to look for us if you do not 
hasten. Why did not Luretta give you back 
your shoes and stockings?” she asked as Anna 
came slowly down the path. “It’s a stupid game 


OF OLD MAINE 


43 


for her to keep them, I will say; ” and she put a 
protecting arm across her sister’s shoulder. 
“ But do not feel bad, Dan, dear; she will bring 
them over before bedtime, if the storm holds off; 
and Mother has made a fine molasses cake for 
supper.” But Anna made no response. 

“Oh! Here comes the minister. Keep a 
little behind me, Dan, and he may not notice your 
bare feet,” exclaimed Rebecca. 

Usually the Reverend Mr. Lyon was very 
ceremonious in his greeting to the children of the 
parish; but to-night he wasted no time in saluta- 
tions. 

“ Have you seen Melvina? ” he asked anx- 
iously. “ She left home early this afternoon to 
visit at Captain Horton’s and did not appear 
there at all ; nor can we find trace of her.” 

“ No, sir,” responded Rebecca. “ I have but 
come to fetch my sister home from Mr. Foster’s, 
and have seen naught of Melvina.” 

Mr. Lyon turned and hurried back toward the 
main path, where London Atus was inquiring at 
every house if anyone had seen his little mistress ; 
but no one had news of her. 

“ What can have befallen Melvina Lyon? 
And there’s a storm coming up. I do hope no 


44 


A LITTLE MAID 


harm has come to her,” said Rebecca, as she hur- 
ried Anna along the path. 

“ Oh, Rebby! It mustn’t storm!” exclaimed 
Anna. 

“ ’Twill only postpone Father’s trip to the 
forest, Dan,” said Rebby; “but look at those 
black clouds. ’Twill surely be a tempest. I 
hope we’ll reach home before it breaks,” and she 
started to run, pulling Anna along with her. 

“ Oh, Rebby, let me go! I can’t go home! I 
can’t! ” exclaimed Anna, breaking away from her 
sister’s clasping hand and darting ahead. 

Rebecca had not heard Anna’s last words, and 
thought her sister wished only to outrun her in 
the race home. So she ran quickly after her, and 
when at the turn by the blacksmith shop she lost 
sight of Anna she only thought that the younger 
girl was hidden by the turn of the path, and not 
until she pushed open the kitchen door did Re- 
becca realize that Anna had run away from her, 
that she had not meant to come home. 

“ Just in time,” said Mr. Weston, drawing 
Rebecca in and closing the door against a gust 
of wind and rain. “ But why did you not bring 
Danna home? It has set in for a heavy storm, 
and she will now have to stay the night at Mr. 
Foster’s.” 


CHAPTER IV 

AT MR. LYON^S 

Anna raced back along the path to the bluff 
as fast as she could go; but the strong wind swept 
against her, and at times nearly blew her over. 
The rain came down in torrents; and, as it had 
grown dark with the approaching storm, she 
could no longer see her way clearly, and stubbed 
her toes against roots and stones until her feet 
were hurt and bleeding. 

But she could not stop to think of this; she 
could think only of Melvina, cowering, wet and 
afraid, under the juniper bushes. 

‘‘ Perhaps she will be blown down the slope 
into the river,” thought Anna, “ and it will be 
my fault. Perhaps I have killed Melvina, by 
trying to make myself out as cleverer than she. 
Oh ! If she is only safe I’ll never try to be clever 
again,” she vowed, as she fought her way on 
against wind and rain. 

As she reached the top of the bluff there was 
45 


46 


A LITTLE MAW 

a moment’s lull in the storm, and Anna could 
clearly see the wide branched juniper bushes 
where she had left Melvina. 

“ Melly ! Melly ! ” she called, scrambling down 
the slope. But there was no answer; and in a 
moment Anna realized that Melvina was not un- 
der the trees. 

The storm began again with even greater j^io- 
lence, and Anna was obliged to cling closely to 
the rough branches to keep from being swept 
down the slope. She could hear the dash of the 
waves on the shore, and she trembled at the 
thought that Melvina might have been swept 
down into the angry waters. 

After a little Anna, on her hands and knees, 
crawled up the slope, clinging to bits of grass 
here and there, and not venturing to stand up- 
right until she had reached the top. 

She knew what she must do now, and she did 
not hesitate. She must go straight to Mr. Lyon’s 
house and tell him the story from the moment 
that she had told Melvina that pine trees were 
alders. For a moment she wondered what would 
become of her afterward; but only for a moment 
did she think of herself. 

It seemed to the little girl that she would never 


OF OLD MAINE 


47 


reach the minister’s house. For a moment she 
rested in the shelter of the church, and then 
dragged herself on. Her feet hurt so badly now 
that it was all she could do to walk. 

There were lights to be i^een, up-stairs and 
down, at the parsonage; but Anna did not won- 
der at this. She managed to reach the front door 
and to lift the knocker. 

In a moment London opened the door, holding 
a candle above his head. 

“ Well, boy, who be ye? ” he questioned 
sharply, seeing only Anna’s curly brown head. 

“ If you please, I am Anna Weston,” faltered 
the little girl. “ I — I — must see the minister. 
It’s about Melvina.” 

A smile showed on the black face, and London 
nodded his head. 

“ Missy Melvina am safe in bed,” he whispered, 
then in a louder tone, “ Step in, if ye please, 
Missy Anna.” 

Anna dragged herself up the high step, and 
Mr. Lyon just then opened a door leading into 
his study. 

“MTiat is it, London?” he questioned, and 
seeing Anna, lifted his hands in amazement. 

Anna stumbled toward him. 


48 


A LITTLE MAID 


“I am to blame about Melvina!” she ex- 
elaimed, and, speaking as quickly as she could, 
she told the whole story. She told it exactly as 
it had happened, excepting Luretta’s part of the 
mischief, and Melvina’s willingness to wade in 
the creeping tide. 

Mr. Lyon had taken her by the hand and led 
her into the candle-lit room. A little fire blazed 
on the brick hearth, and as Anna came near it a 
little mist of steam rose from her wet clothes. 

The minister listened, keeping Anna’s cold 
little hand fast in his friendly clasp. His face 
was very grave, and when she finished with: “ Is 
Melvina safe? London said she was. But, oh, 
Mr. Lyon, all her fine clothes are swept away, 
and it is my fault,” he smiled down at her trou- 
bled face. 

“ Be in no further alarm, my child. But come 
with me, for your feet are cut and bruised, and 
Mrs. Lyon will give you dry clothing. Melvina 
does not blame you in her story of this mis- 
chievous prank. But I doubt not you are both 
blameworthy. But ’twill be your parents’ duty 
to see to thy punishment.” As the minister spoke 
he drew her toward a door at the far end of the 
room and opened it, calling for Mrs. Lyon, who 


OF OLD MAINE 49 

rose from her seat near a low table in front of the 
big kitchen fireplace. 

All Anna’s courage had vanished. She hung 
her head, not daring to look at Mrs. Lyon, say- 
ing: 

“ I must go home. I must not stay.” 

“ London is at your father’s house ere this, and 
will tell him that you are to spend the night here. 
They will not be anxious about you,” said Mrs. 
Lyon; “ and now slip out of those wet garments. 
I have warm water to bathe your feet,” and al- 
most before Anna realized what was happen- 
ing she found herself in a warm flannel wrapper, 
her bruised feet bathed and wrapped in comfort- 
ing bandages, and a bowl of hot milk and corn 
bread on the little table beside her. When this 
was finished Mrs. Lyon led the little girl to a 
tiny chamber at the head of the stairs. A big 
bedstead seemed nearly to fill the room. 

“ Say your prayers, Anna,” said Mrs. Lyon, 
and without another word she left the little girl 
alone. Anna was so thoroughly tired out that 
even the strange dark room did not prevent her 
from going to sleep, and when she awoke the tiny 
room was full of sunshine; she could hear robins 
singing in the maples near the house, and people 


50 


A LITTLE MAID 


moving about down-stairs. Then she sat up in 
bed with a little shiver of apprehension. 

What would the minister and Mrs. Lyon and 
Melvina say to her? Perhaps none of them 
would even speak to her. She had never been 
so unhappy in her life as she was at that moment. 
She slipped out of bed; but the moment her feet 
touched the floor she cried out with pain. For 
they were bruised and sore. 

There was a quick rap at the door, and Mrs. 
Lyon entered. “ Good-morning, Anna. Here 
are your clothes. I have pressed them. And 
I suppose these are your shoes and stockings ! ” 
and she set down the stout shoes and the knit 
stockings that Anna had supposed had been 
swept out to sea. 

When you are dressed come to the kitchen 
and your breakfast will be ready,” said Mrs. 
Lyon, and left the room before Anna had cour- 
age to speak. Anna dressed quickly; but in 
spite of her endeavors she could not get on her 
shoes. Her feet hurt her too badly to take off 
the bandages; she drew her stockings on with 
some difficulty, and shoes in hand went slowly 
down the steep stairs. 

When she was nearly down she heard Mrs. 


OF OLD MAINE 


51 


Lyon’s voice: “ She is a mischievous child, and 
her parents encourage her. She looks like a boy, 
and I do not want Melvina to have aught to do 
with her.” 

Anna drew a quick breath. She would not go 
into the kitchen and face people who thought so 
unkindly of her. “ I will go home,” she thought, 
ready to cry with the pain from her feet, and her 
unhappy thoughts. The front door was wide 
open. There was no trace of the storm of the 
previous night, and Anna made her way softly 
across the entry and down the steps. Every 
step hurt, but she hurried along and had reached 
the church when she gave a little cry of delight, 
for her father was coming up the path. 

“ Well, here’s my Danna safe and sound,” he 
exclaimed, picking her up in his arms. “And 
what has happened to her little feet? ” he asked, 
as he carried her on toward home. 

And then Anna told all her sad story again, 
even to the words she had overheard Mrs. Lyon 
say. 

“Don’t worry, Danna! I’d rather have my 
Dan than a dozen of their Melvinas,” said Mr. 
Weston quickly. 

When London had come the previous night 


52 


A LITTLE MAID 


with the brief message from the minister that 
Anna was safe at his house and would stay the 
night there, the Westons had been vexed and 
troubled, and Mrs. Weston had declared that 
Anna should be punished for running off in such 
a tempest to the minister’s house. But as Mr. 
Weston listened to his little daughter’s story, and 
looked at her troubled and tear-stained face, he 
decided that Anna had had a lesson that she 
would remember, and needed comforting more 
than punishment; and a few whispered words to 
Mrs. Weston, as he set Anna down in the big 
wooden rocker, made Anna’s mother put her 
arms tenderly about her little daughter and say 
kindly: 

“ Mother’s glad enough to have her Danna 
home again. And now let’s look at those feet.” 

Rebby came running with a bowl of hot por- 
ridge, and the little girl was made as comfortable 
as possible. But all that morning she sat in the 
big chair with her feet on a cushion in a smaller 
chair, and she told her mother and Rebby all the 
story of her adventures ; and when Rebby 
laughed at Melvina’s not knowing an alder from 
a pine Danna smiled a little. But Mrs. Weston 
was very sober, although she said no word of 


OF OLD MAINE 


53 


blame. If Melvina Lyon’s things had been lost 
it would be but right that Anna’s parents should 
replace them to the best of their ability, and this 
would be a serious expense for the little house- 
hold. 

After dinner Rebby went to the Fosters’, and 
came home with the story of Melvina’s return 
home. It seemed that the moment Anna left her 
she became frightened and had followed her up 
the slope ; and then, while Mr. Lyon and London 
were searching for her, she had made her way 
home, told her story, and had been put to bed. 
Luretta had carried Melvina’s things and Anna’s 
shoes and stockings well up the shore, and had 
put them under the curving roots of the oak tree ; 
so, although they were well soaked, they were not 
blown away, and early that morning Luretta had 
hastened to carry the things to the parsonage. 

“You were brave, Dan, to go through all that 
storm last night to tell the minister,” said Rebby, 
as she drew a footstool near her sister’s chair and 
sat down. Rebby was not so troubled to-day; 
for her father had postponed his trip to the for- 
est after the liberty tree, and Rebby hoped that 
perhaps it would not be necessary that one should 
be set up in Machias. So she was ready to keep 


54 


A LITTLE BIAID 


her little sister company, and try to make her 
forget the troubles of her adventures. 

“ Of course I had to go, Rebby,” Anna re- 
sponded seriously, “ but none of it, not even my 
feet, hurt so bad as what Mrs. Lyon said about 
me. For I do not think I am what she said,” 
and Anna began to cry. . 

“ Father says you are the bravest child in the 
settlement; and Mother is proud that you went 
straight there and took all the blame. And I am 
sure that no other girl is so dear as my Danna,” 
declared Rebby loyally. “After all, what harm 
did you do? ” 

But Anna was not so easily comforted. “ I 
tried to make fun of Melly for not knowing any- 
thing. I tried to show off,” she said, “ and now 
probably she will never want to see me again; and 
oh, Rebby! the worst of it all is that Melvina is 
just as brave as she can be, and I like her! ” And 
Anna’s brown eyes brightened at the remem- 
brance of Melvina’s enjoyment of their sport to- 
gether. 

“ Don’t you worry, Danna; Father will make 
it all right,” Rebecca assured her; for Rebecca 
thought that her father could smooth out all the 
difficult places. 


OF OLD MAINE 


55 


Alina did not speak of the excursion to the 
forest; she did not even think of it until that 
evening, when her father came home with a roll 
of fine birch-bark, soft and smooth as paper, on 
whose smooth surface she and Rebecca with bits 
of charcoal could trace crude pictures of trees 
and Indians, of birds and mice, and sometimes 
write letters to Lucia Horton or Luretta Foster. 

“ You must take good care of your feet, Dan, 
for I must start after the liberty tree in a few 
days,” said Mr. Weston, “ and I want your com- 
pany.” 

Anna’s face brightened, but Rebecca looked 
troubled. 

“ Why must we have a liberty pole. Father? ” 
she asked fretfully. 

“We have good reasons, daughter. And to- 
day tidings have come that the brave men of 
Lexington and Concord, in Massachusetts, 
drove the British back to Boston on the nine-, 
teenth of April. ’Tis great news for all the 
colonies. I wish some British craft would give 
Machias men a chance to show their mettle,” said 
Mr. Weston, his face flushing at the thought of 
the patriotic action of the men of Massachusetts. 

Rebecca sighed. She, too, wished that her 


56 


A LITTLE MAID 


home town might do its part to win a victory for 
America; but, remembering what Lucia Horton 
had told her, the very mention of a liberty pole 
made her tremble. 

When Anna hobbled up-stairs that night she 
was in a much happier frame of mind. 

“ My father is the best father in all the world, 
and my mother is the best mother, and my sister 
is the best sister,” she announced to the little 
group as she said good-night. But the shadow 
of Mrs. Lyon’s disapproval was not forgotten; 
Anna wondered to herself if there was not some 
way by which she could win the approval of Mr. 
and Mrs. Lyon, and so be allowed to become 
Melvina’s friend. 

“ Mrs. Lyon doesn’t like me because my hair 
is short, for one reason,” thought Anna. “ I’ll 
let it grow ; but ’twill take years and years,” and 
with this discouraging thought her eyes closed, 
and she forgot her troubles in sleep. 


CHAPTER V 


A BIRTHDAY 

In a few days Anna’s feet were healed, and, 
wearing her soft moccasins, she could run about 
as well as ever. But her father and mother were 
quick to see that a great change had come over 
their little daughter. She no longer wanted to 
be called “ Dan ” ; she told her mother that she 
wanted her hair to grow long, and she even asked 
Rebecca to teach her how to sew more evenly and 
with tinier stitches. 

For Anna had made a firm resolve ; she would 
try in every possible way to be like Melvina 
Lyon. She gave up so many of her out-of-door 
games that Mrs. Weston looked at her a little 
anxiously, fearing that the child might not be 
well. Every day Anna walked up the path to 
the church, and lingered about hoping for a 
glimpse of Melvina; but a week passed and the 
little girls did not meet. 

At last the day came when Mr. Weston was 
67 


58 


A LITTLE MAID 


ready to start for the forest to select the liberty 
tree ; but, greatly to his surprise, Anna said that 
she did not wish to go, and he started off without 
her. 

This was the first real sacrifice Anna had made 
toward becoming like Melvina. She was quite 
sure that Melvina would not go for a tramp in 
the forest. “ It would spoil her clothes,” re- 
flected Anna, and looked regretfully at her own 
stout gingham dress, wishing it could be 
changed and become like one of Melvina’s dresses 
of flounced linen. 

“ I would look more like her if I wore better 
dresses,” she decided. 

“ Mother, may I not wear my Sunday dress? ” 
she asked eagerly. “ I will not play any games, 
or hurt it. I will only walk as far as the church 
and back.” 

For a moment Mrs. Weston hesitated. It 
seemed a foolish thing to let Anna wear her best 
dress on a week day; but the little girl had been 
so quiet and unhappy since the night of her ad- 
venture that her mother decided to allow her this 
privilege; and Anna ran up-stairs, and in a few 
minutes had put on her Sunday dress. It was a 
blue muslin with tiny white dots, and the neck 


OF OLD MAINE 


59 


and sleeves were edged with tiny white ruffles. 
It had been Rebecca’s best dress for several sum- 
mers, until she outgrew it, and it was made over 
for the younger girl, but Anna was very proud 
of it, and stood on tiptoe to see herself reflected 
in the narrow^ mirror between the windows of 
the sitting-room. Her mother had made a sun- 
bonnet of the same material as the dress, and 
Anna put this on with satisfaction. Always be- 
fore this she had despised a sunbonnet, and never 
had she put it on of her own accord. But to-day 
she looked at it approvingly. “No one would 
know but that my hair is long, and braided, just 
like Melvina’s,” she thought as she walked slowly 
toward the kitchen. 

“ I will only walk to the church and straight 
back. Mother dear,” she said, “ and then I will 
put on my gingham dress, and sew on my patch- 
work.” 

“ That’s a good girl. You look fine enough 
for a party,” responded her mother, and stood at 
the door watching Anna as she walked soberly 
down the path. 

“ I know not what has come over the child,” 
she thought, with a little sigh. “ To be sure, she 
is more like other little girls, and perhaps it is 


60 


A LITTLE MAID 


well; but Mrs. Weston sighed again, as if re- 
gretting her noisy, singing “ Dan,” who seemed 
to have vanished forever. 

When Anna reached the church she stood for 
a moment looking wistfully toward the parson- 
age. “ If Mrs. Lyon could see me now she 
would not think me a tomboy,” thought Anna; 
and with the thought came a new inspiration: why 
should not Mrs. Lyon see her dressed as neatly 
as Melvina herself, and with the objectionable 
short hair hidden from sight? 

“ I will go and call,” decided Anna, her old 
courage returning; “ and I will behave so well 
that Mrs. Lyon will ask me to come often and 
play with Melvina,” and, quite forgetting to walk 
quietly, she raced along the path in her old-time 
fashion until she was at the minister’s door. 
Then she rapped, and stood waiting, a little 
breathless, but smiling happily, quite sure that 
a little girl in so pretty a dress and so neat a sun- 
bonnet would receive a warm welcome. Perhaps 
Mrs. Lyon would come to the door, she thought 
hopefully. 

But it was Melvina herself who opened the 
door. Melvina, wearing a white dress and a 
long apron. 


OF OLD MAINE 


61 


For a moment the two little girls stood looking 
at each other in surprise. Then Melvina smiled 
radiantly. “ Oh! It really is you, Anna! 
Come in. I am keeping house this afternoon, 
and nobody will know that you are here.” 

“ But I came to call on your mother. I wanted 
her to see me,” explained Anna. 

But Melvina did not seem to notice this ex- 
planation. She took Anna’s hand and drew her 
into the house. 

“ Oh, Dan! wasn’t it fun to wade and run on 
the shore? ” said Melvina eagerly, as the two girls 
entered the big pleasant kitchen. ‘‘ I didn’t mind 
being wet or frightened or punished. Did 
you? ” 

‘‘ I wasn’t punished,” Anna responded meekly. 

“ I was. I was sent to bed without my supper 
for three nights ; and I had to learn two tables of 
figures,” declared Melvina triumphantly. “ But 

I didn’t care. For I have a splendid plan ” 

But before Melvina could say another word the 
kitchen door opened and Mrs. Lyon entered. 

At first she did not recognize Anna, and smiled 
pleasantly at the neat, quiet little girl in the 
pretty dress and sunbonnet. “And who is this 
little maid? ” she asked. 


62 


A LITTLE MAID 


“ I am Anna Weston,” Anna replied quickly, 
making a clumsy curtsy. 

Mrs. Lyon’s smile vanished. She thought to 
herself that Anna had taken advantage of her 
absence to steal into the house, perhaps to entice 
Melvina for some rough game out-of-doors. 

“ I came to call,” Anna continued bravely, her 
voice faltering a little. ‘‘ I wanted to say I was 
sorry for being mischievous.” 

Mrs. Lyon’s face softened, and she noticed ap- 
provingly that Anna’s short curly locks were 
covered by the sunbonnet, and that she was 
dressed in her best ; but she was still a little doubt- 
ful. 

“ Well, Anna, I am glad indeed that you are 
so right-minded. It is most proper that you 
should be sorry. I doubt not that your good 
parents punished you severely for your fault,” 
said Mrs. Lyon. But she did not ask Anna to 
sit down, or to remove her sunbonnet. Melvina 
looked from Anna to her mother, not knowing 
what to say. 

“ I think I must go now,” said Anna, almost 
ready to cry. ‘‘ Good-bye, Melvina; good-after- 
noon, Mrs. Lyon,” and making another awkward 
curtsy Anna turned toward the door. 


OF OLD MAINE 


63 


“Oh, Danna! Don’t go,” called Melvina, 
running toward her; but Mrs. Lyon’s firm hand 
held her back. 

“Good-afternoon, Anna! I hope you will 
grow into a good and obedient girl,” she said 
kindly. 

Anna’s tears now came thick and fast. She 
could hardly see the path as she stumbled along. 
But if she could have heard Melvina’s words as 
her mother held her back from the kitchen door, 
she would have felt that her visit had been worth 
while. For Melvina had exclaimed, greatly to 
Mrs. Lyon’s dismay: “ Oh, Mother! Ask her to 
come again. For I want to be exactly like 
Danna, and do all the things she does.” 

Luretta Foster, coming down the path, 
stopped short and stared at Anna in amazement. 
It was surprising enough to see Anna dressed as 
if ready for church, but to see her in tears was 
almost unbelievable. 

“What is the matter, Danna?” she asked, 
coming close to her little friend’s side, and en- 
deavoring to peer under the sunbonnet. “ W ould 
not your father let you go with him to the 
forest? ” 

Anna made no answer, and when Luretta put 


64 A LITTLE MAID 

a friendly arm about her shoulders, she drew a 
little away. 

“ Do not cry, Dan. My brother Paul has gone 
to the forest with your father, and he promised 
to bring me home a rabbit to tame for a pet. I 
will give it to you, Dan,” said Luretta. 

For a moment Anna forgot her troubles. 
“ Will you, truly, Luretta? ” and she pushed 
back her sunbonnet that she might see her friend 
more clearly. 

“ Yes, I will. And I will give you a nice box 
with slats across the top, and a little door at the 
end that Paul made yesterday for the rabbit to 
live in,” Luretta promised generously. “I do 
not suppose Melvina Lyon would know a rabbit 
from a wolf,” she continued laughingly, quite 
sure that Anna would suggest asking Melvina to 
come and see their tame wolf. But Anna did 
nothing of the sort. 

“ Melvina knows more than any girl in this 
settlement,” Anna replied quickly. She can 
do sums in fractions, and she can embroider, and 
make cakes. And she is brave, too.” 

“ WhjT’, Dan Weston! And only last week 
you made fun of her, and said that all those things 
were of no account,” exclaimed Luretta. 


OF OLD MAINE 65 

For a moment the two little friends walked on 
in silence, and then Anna spoke. 

“ Luretta, I’ll tell you something. I am go- 
ing to try to be exactly like Melvina Lyon. 
Everybody praises her, and your mother and 
mine are always saying that she is well-behaved. 
And I am going to let my hair grow lon^ and be 
well-behaved. But don’t tell anyone,” Anna 
added quickly, “ for I want Mrs. Lyon to find it 
out first of all.” 

“Oh, Dan! And won’t you make funny 
rhymes any more? Or play on the timber-rafts — 
or — or — anything? ” asked Luretta. 

“ I don’t believe there is any harm in making 
rhymes. It’s something you can’t help,” re- 
sponded Anna thoughtfully. “And Parson 
Lyon has written a book,” she added quickly, as 
if that in some way justified her jingles. 

“ I don’t want you to be different, Dan! ” de- 
clared Luretta. 

Anna stopped and looked at her friend re- 
proachfully. “ Well, Luretta Foster, I am sur- 
prised!” she said, and then clasping Luretta’s 
hand she started to run down the path, saying: 
“ Let’s hurry, so I can take off this dress; then 
we will walk a little way toward the forest to see 


66 


A LITTLE MAID 


if Father and Paul are coming. Will you truly 
give me the rabbit if Paul captures one? ” 

“ Yes, I will,’’ promised Luretta; but she be- 
gan to wish that she had not suggested such a 
thing. If Danna was going to be exactly like 
Slelvina Lyon, thought Luretta, a rabbit would 
not receive much attention. 

Rebecca was sitting on the front step busy 
with her knitting as the two little girls came up 
the path. It was her birthday, but so far no one 
had seemed to remember it. The Polly had not 
reached port, so the fine present she had been 
promised could not be expected. But Rebecca 
was surprised and disappointed that everyone 
had seemed to forget that she was fourteen on 
the tenth of May. But as she looked up and saw 
Anna dressed in her best, and Luretta beside her, 
coming up the path, Rebby’s face brightened. 
“ I do believe Mother has planned a surprise for 
me,” she thought happily. Oh, there comes 
Lucia! Now I am sure that Mother has asked 
her to come, and perhaps some of the other girls,” 
and Rebecca put down her knitting and stood up, 
smiling at the girls expectantly, for she was quite 
sure that their first words would be a birthday 
greeting. 


OF OLD MAINE 


67 


At that moment Mrs. Weston, busy in her 
kitchen, remembered suddenly that it was Sep- 
tember tenth. “My Rebby’s birthday! And, 
with my mind full of all the worry about being 
shut off from the world by British cruisers, and 
provisions growing so scarce, I had forgotten,” 
and Mrs. Weston left her work and reached the 
front door just as Rebecca rose to her feet to 
greet her friends. 

“ Fourteen to-day, Rebby dear,” said Mrs. 
Weston, putting her arm about her tall daughter 
and kissing Rebecca. 

At the same moment, hearing her mother’s 
words, Anna ran forward calling out: “ Rebby 
is fourteen to-day.” 

Luretta and Lucia were close behind her, and 
Rebecca found herself the centre of a smiling 
happy group, and for the moment quite forgot 
that she must do without the present from Boston 
that her father had promised her. 


CHAPTER VI 


LUCIA HAS A PLAN 

“ I HAVE brought you a birthday gift, Rebby,’* 
said Lucia, who had been looking forward all 
day to the moment when she could give her friend 
the small package that she now handed her. 

Rebecca received it smilingly, and quickly un- 
wound the white tissue paper in which it was 
wrapped, showing a flat white box. Inside this 
box lay a pair of white silk mitts. 

Rebecca looked at them admiringly, and even 
Mrs. Weston declared that very few girls could 
hope for a daintier gift; while Anna and Luretta 
urged Rebecca to try them on at once, which she 
was quite ready to do. They fitted exactly, and 
Lucia was as proud and happy as Rebecca her- 
self that her gift was so praised and appreciated. 

“ They came from France,” she said. “ Look 
on the box, Rebby, and you will see ‘ Paris, 
France.’ My father bought them of a Boston 
merchant, and I have a pair for myself.” 

68 


OF OLD MAINE 


69 


“Are any more girls coming, Mother? ” Re- 
becca asked as Mrs. Weston led the way to the 
living-room. 

“No, my dear. And I only ” Mrs. 

Weston hesitated. She had started to say that 
she had only remembered Rebecca’s birthday a 
few moments earlier; but she stoi3ped in time, 
knowing it would cloud the afternoon’s pleasure; 
and Rebecca, smiling and delighted with Lucia’s 
gift, and sure that her motlier had some treat 
ready for them, exclaimed: 

“ I do not mind now so much that the Polly 
has not arrived; for I could have no gift finer 
than a pair of silk mitts.” 

Anna had taken off her sunbonnet and was 
sitting on one of the low rush-bottomed chairs 
near a window. She was very quiet, reproach- 
ing herself in her thoughts that she had no gift 
for her sister. What could she give her? For 
little girls in revolutionary times, especially those 
in remote villages, had very few possessions of 
their own, and Anna had no valued treasure that 
might make a present. If she had remembered 
in time, she thought, she would have asked her 
mother to help her make a needle-book. 

Suddenly she jumped up and ran across the 


70 


A LITTLE MAID 


room and kissed her sister, first on one cheek and 
then on the other, saying: 

^ ‘ If I had golden beads in strings, 

I’d give you these, and other things. 

But Rebby, dear. I’ve only this 
To give to-day: a birthday kiss.” 

Lucia and Luretta were sure that Anna must 
have had her verse all ready to repeat ; and even 
Rebecca, who knew that Anna rhymed words 
easily, thought that Anna had prepared this 
birthday greeting, and was very proud of her 
little sister. But at the words, “ golden beads,” 
a great hope came into Rebecca’s heart. Per- 
haps that was what the Polly was bringing for 
her. 

“ I am to have a rabbit,” said Anna happily. 
“ What shall I name it? ” 

Lucia did not seem much interested in any- 
thing so ordinary as a rabbit, and had no sug- 
gestion to offer, and while Anna and Luretta 
were deciding this question Lucia whispered to 
Rebecca: “ When I go home be sure and walk a 
little way; I want to tell you something im- 
portant.” 

Rebby nodded smilingly. For the moment 
she had entirely forgotten the uncomfortable 


OF OLD MAINE 


71 


secret that Lucia had confided in her, and was 
thinking only that it was really a wonderful 
thing to have a fourteenth birthday. 

While the four little girls were talking happily 
in the living-room, Mrs. Weston was trying to 
think up some sort of a birthday treat for them. 
There was no white sugar in the house, or, for 
that matter, in the entire settlement. But the 
Westons had a small store of maple sugar, made 
from the sap of the maple trees, and Mrs. Weston 
quickly decided that this should be psed for Re- 
becca’s birthday celebration. She hurried to the 
j)antry, and when an hour later she opened the 
door and called the girls to the kitchen they all 
exclaimed with delight. 

The round table was covered with a shining 
white cloth, and Mrs. Weston had set it with her 
fine blue plates, that she had brought from Bos- 
ton when she came to Machias, and that were 
seldom used. 

By each plate stood a lustre mug filled with 
milk, and in the centre of the table was a heart- 
shaped cake frosted with maple sugar. 

‘'Oh, Mother! This is my very best birth- 
day! ” Rebecca declared happily, and as the other 
girls seated themselves at the table she stood with 


72 


A LITTLE MAID 


bowed head to say the “ grace ” of thanks before 
cutting her birthday cake. 

Anna wished to herself that Melvina Lyon 
might have been one of the guests, and shared 
the delicious cake. She wondered just how Mel- 
vina would behave on such an occasion; and was 
so careful with her crumbs, and so polite in her 
replies to the other girls that Lucia and Rebecca 
began to laugh, thinking Anna was making be- 
lieve for their amusement. 

Before the little girls left the table Mr. Weston 
appeared at the kitchen door, and was quite ready 
to taste the cake, and again remind Rebecca of 
the gift the Polly was bringing. 

‘‘ Let me whisper. Father,” she responded, 
drawing his head down near her own. “ It’s 
heads! ” she whispered, and when her father 
laughed she was sure she was right, and almost 
as happy as if the longed-for gift was around her 
neck. 

“ Well, Paul and I found the liberty tree,” 
said Mr. Weston, “ and I cut it down and 
trimmed it save for its green plume. Paul is 
towing it down-stream now; and when we set it 
up ’twill be a credit to the to^vn.” 

Lucia rose quickly. “ I must be going home,” 


OF OLD MAINE 


73 


she said, a little flush coming into her cheeks, 
“ I have enjoyed the afternoon very much,” she 
added politely; for if Melvina Lyon was the 
smartest girl in the village no one could say that 
any of the other little girls ever forgot to be 
well-mannered. 

Rebecca followed her friend to the door, and 
they walked down the path together, while Anna 
and Luretta questioned Mr. Weston eagerly as 
to Paul’s success in capturing a rabbit, and were 
made happy with the news that he had secured 
two young rabbits, and that they were safe in the 
canoe which Paul was now paddling down the 
river, towing the liberty tree behind him. 

Rebecca and Lucia had gone but a few steps 
when Lucia whispered: “We mustn’t let them 
put up the liberty tree. Oh, Rebby, why didn’t 
you try to stop your father going after it? ” 

“ How could I? ” responded Rebecca. “And 
when I said: ‘ Why must Machias have a liberty 
pole? ’ he was ill pleased with me, and said I must 
be loyal to America’s rights. Oh, Lucia! are you 
sure that ” 

But Lucia’s hand was held firmly over Rebby’s 
mouth. “ Ssh. Don’t speak it aloud, Rebby. 
For ’twould make great trouble for my father, in 


74 


A LITTLE MAID 


any case, if people even guessed that he knew the 
plans of the British. But I could not help hear- 
ing what he said to Mother the day he sailed. 
But, Rebby, we must do something so the liberty 
pole will not be set up.” 

“ Can’t we tell my father? ” suggested Rebecca 
hopefully. 

“ Oh, Rebecca Weston! If your father knew 
what I told you he would do his best to have the 
liberty pole put up at once,” declared Lucia. 

“ But I have a plan, and you must help me,” 
she continued. “ Paul Foster will bring the 
sapling close in shore near his father’s shop, and 
it will rest there to-night ; and when it is dark we 
must go down and cut it loose and push it out so 
that the current will take it down-stream, and the 
tide will carry it out to sea. Then, before they 
can get another one, the Polly will come sailing 
in and all will be well.” 

“ Won’t the British ship come if we do not put 
up the liberty pole?” asked Rebecca. 

“There! You have said it aloud, Rebby!” 
whispered Lucia reprovingly. 

“ Not all of it; but how can we go out of our 
houses in the night, Lucia? ” replied Rebecca, 
who had begun to think that perhaps Lucia’s 


OF OLD MAINE 


75 


plan was the easiest way to save the village. For 
Lucia had told her friend that the Polly, of which 
Lucia’s father was captain, and the sloop Unity, 
owned and sailed by a Captain Jones of Boston, 
would be escorted to Machias by an armed Brit- 
ish ship ; and if a liberty pole was set up the Brit- 
ish would fire upon the town. So it was no 
wonder that Rebecca was frightened and ready 
to listen to Lucia’s plan to avert the danger. 

She did not know that her father and other 
men of the settlement were already beginning to 
doubt the loyalty of the two captains to Amer- 
ica’s cause. 

“ It will be easy enough to slip out when every- 
body is asleep,” Lucia replied to Rebecca’s ques- 
tion. We can meet at Mr. Foster’s shoj:). If 
I get there first I will wait, and if you get there 
before me you must wait. As near ten o’clock as 
we can. And then it won’t take us but a few 
minutes to push the sapling out into the current. 
Just think, Rebby, we will save the town, and 
nobody will ever know it but just us two.” 

Rebby sighed. She wished that Lucia’s father 
had kept the secret to himself. Besides, she was 
not sure that it was right to prevent the liberty 
pole from being set up. But that the town 


76 


A LITTLE MAID 


should be fired upon by a British man-of-war, 
and everyone killed, as Lucia assured her, when 
it could be jprevented by her pushing a pine 
sapling into the current of the river, made the 
little girl decide that she would do as Lucia had 
planned. 

“All right. I will be there, at the blacksmith 
shop, when it strikes ten to-night,'’ she agreed, 
and the friends parted. 

Rebecca walked slowly toward home, forget- 
ting all the joy of the afternoon; forgetting even 
that it was her fourteenth birthday, and that a 
string of gold beads for her was probably on 
board the Polly, 

Paul Foster towed the fine sapling to the very 
place that Lucia had mentioned, and his father 
came to the shore and looked at it admiringly as 
he helped Paul make it secure. “ It is safely 
fastened and no harm can come to it,” Mr. Foster 
said after they had drawn the tree partly from 
the water. Paul drew his canoe up on the beach, 
and taking the rabbits in the stout canvas bag, 
started for home. 

Anna and Luretta were both on the watch for 
him, and came running to meet him. Anna now 
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BUT WHICH ONE IS TO 


BE MINE ? 






OF OLD MAINE 77 

eagerness to see the rabbits she had quite for- 
gotten to try and behave like Melvina Lyon. 

“ Why, it is a pity to separate the little crea- 
tures,” Paul declared, when Luretta told him 
that she had promised one to Anna. “See how 
close they keep together. And this box is big 
enough for them both. And they are so young 
they must be fed very carefully for a time.” 

“ I know what we can do,” declared Anna; 
“ my rabbit can live here until he is a little larger, 
and then my father will make a box for him and 
I can take him home.” 

Paul said that would do very well, and that 
Anna could come each day and learn how to feed 
the little creatures, and what they liked best to 
eat. 

“ But which one is to be mine? They are ex- 
actly alike,” said Anna, a little anxiously. And 
indeed there was no way of telling the rabbits 
apart, so Anna and Luretta agreed that when the 
time came to separate them it would not matter 
which one Anna chose for her own. 

At supper time Anna could talk of nothing 
but the rabbits, and had so much to say that her 
father and mother did not notice how silent Re- 
becca was. 


78 


A LITTLE MAID 


The little household retired early, and by eight 
o’clock Rebecca was in bed, but alert to every 
sound, and resolved not to go to sleep. The sis- 
ters slept together, and in a few minutes Anna 
was sound asleep. Rebecca heard the clock 
strike nine, then very quietly she got out of bed 
and dressed. Her moccasins made no noise as 
she stepped cautiously along the narrow passage, 
and down the steep stairway. She lifted the big 
bar that fastened the door and stood it against 
the wall, then she opened the door, closing it care- 
fully behind her, and stepped out into the warm 
darkness of the spring night. 


CHAPTER VII 


“ A TRAITOR^S DEED ” 

It was one of those May evenings that promise 
that summer is close at hand. The air was soft 
and warm; there was no wind, and in the clear 
starlight Rebecca could see the shadows of the 
tall elm tree near the blacksmith shop, and the 
silvery line of the softly flowing river. As she 
stood waiting for Lucia she looked up into the 
clear skies and traced the stars forming the Big 
Dipper, nearly over her head. Low do^vn in the 
west Jupiter shone brightly, and the broad band 
of shimmering stars that formed the Milky Way 
stretched like a jeweled necklace across the 
heavens. The little village slept peacefully 
along the river’s bank ; not a light was to be seen 
in any of the shadowy houses. A chorus of 
frogs from the marshes sounded shrilly through 
the quiet. In years to come, when Rebecca heard 
the first frogs sounding their call to spring, she 
was to recall that beautiful night when she stole 
79 


80 


A LITTLE MAID 


out to try and save the town, as she believed, from 
being fired on by a British gunboat. 

She had made so early a start that she had to 
wait what seemed a very long time for Lucia, 
who approached so quietly that not until she 
touched Rebby’s arm did Rebby know of her 
coming. 

“ I am late, and I nearly had to give up com- 
ing because Mother did not get to sleep,” Lucia 
exi)lained, as the two girls hurried down to the 
river. “ She is so worried about Father,” con- 
tinued Lucia; “ she says that since the Americans 
defeated the English at Lexington they may 
drive them out of Boston as well.” 

“ Of course they will,” declared Rebecca, sur- 
prised that anyone could imagine the righteous 
cause of America defeated. “And if the Eng- 
lish gunboat comes in here the Machias men will 
capture it,” she added. 

“ Well, I don’t know,” responded Lucia de- 
spondently. “ But if it destroyed the town there 
wouldn’t be anyone left to capture it; and that 
is why we must push that liberty tree offshore.” 

The girls were both strong, and Lucia had 
brought a sharp knife with which to cut the rope 
holding the tree to a stake on the bank, so it did 


OF OLD MAINE 


81 


not take them long to push the tree clear of the 
shore. They found a long pole near by, and with 
this they were able to swing the liberty tree out 
until the current of the river came to their aid and 
carried it slowly along. 

“ How slowly it moves,” said Rebecca im- 
patiently, as they stood watching it move steadily 
down-stream. 

“ But it will be well down the bay before morn- 
ing,” said Lucia, “ and we must get home as 
quickly as we can. I wish my father could know 
that there will not be a liberty pole set up in 
Machias.” 

Rebecca stopped short. “No liberty pole, 
Lucia Horton? Indeed there will be. Why, 
my father says that all the loyal settlements 
along the Maine coast are setting up one; and as 
soon as the old British gunboat is out of sight 
Machias will put up a liberty tree. Perhaps 
’twill even be set up while the gunboat lies in 
this harbor.” 

“ Well, come on! We have tried to do what 
we could to save the town, anyway,” responded 
Lucia, who began to be sadly puzzled. If a lib- 
erty tree was so fine a thing why should her 
father not wish Machias to have one, she won- 


82 


A LITTLE MAID 


dered. Lucia did not know that her father was 
even then bargaining with the British in Boston 
to bring them a cargo of lumber on his next trip 
from Machias, in return for permission to load 
the Polly with provisions to sell to the people of 
the settlement, and that, exactly as Lucia had 
heard him predict, an armed British gunboat 
would aeeompany the sloops Polly and Unity 
when they should appear in Maehias harbor. 

The two friends whispered a hasty “ good- 
night,” and each ran in the direetion of home. 
Rebby pushed the big door open noiselessly, but 
she did not try to replace the bar. As she crept 
up the stairs she could hear the even breathing of 
her father and mother, and she slid into bed with- 
out waking Anna, and was too sleepy herself to 
lie long awake. 

The unfastened door puzzled Mr. Weston 
when he came down-stairs at daybreak the next 
morning. “ I was sure I put the bar up,” he 
thought, but he had no time to think mueh about 
trifles that morning, for, as he stood for a mo- 
ment in the doorway, he saw Paul Foster running 
toward the house. 

“ Mr. Weston, sir, the liberty pole is gone,” 
gasped the boy, out of breath. “ The rope that 


OF OLD MAINE 83 

held it to the stake was cut/’ he continued. 
“ Father says ’tis some Tory’s work.” 

Mr. Weston did not stop for breakfast. He 
told Mrs. Weston that he would come up later 
on, as soon as he had found out more about the 
missing liberty tree; and with Paul beside him, 
now talking eagerly of how his father had gone 
with him to take a look at the pine sapling and 
found no trace of it, Mr. Weston hurried toward 
the shore where a number of men were now 
gathered. 

Anna had hard work to awaken Rebby that 
morning, and when she came slowly down-stairs 
she felt cross and tired; but her mother’s first 
words made her forget everything else. 

“We will eat our porridge without your 
father,” Mrs. Weston said gravely. “ A terrible 
thing has happened. Some traitor has made way 
with the liberty tree that your father and Paul 
selected yesterday.” 

“ Traitor? ” gasped Rebby, who knew well 
that such a word meant the lowest and most to be 
despised person on earth, and could hardly be- 
lieve that what she had supposed to be a fine and 
brave action could be a traitor’s deed. 

“ Who else but a traitor would make way with 


84 


A LITTLE MAID 


our liberty pole? ’’ responded Mrs. Weston. 
“ But do not look so frightened, Rebby. Sit up 
to the table; when your father comes home he 
will tell us who did the base act. And we may 
be sure Machias men will deal with him as he 
deserves.’’ 

But Rebecca could not eat the excellent por- 
ridge; and when her mother questioned her anx- 
iously she owned that her head ached, and that 
she did not feel well. 

“ I’ll steep up some thoroughwort ; a good cup 
of herb tea will soon send off your headache,” said 
Mrs. Weston, “ and you had best go back to bed. 
Maybe ’tis because of the birthday cake.” 

Rebecca made no response; she was glad to go 
back to her room, where she buried her face in the 
pillow, hardly daring to think what would be- 
come of her. Supposing Lucia should tell, she 
thought despairingly, saying over and over to 
herself, “Traitor I Traitor!” So that when 
Anna came softly into the room a little later she 
found her sister with flushed face and tear-stained 
eyes, and ran back to the kitchen to tell her 
mother that Rebby was very ill. 

It was an anxious and unhappy morning for 
Rebby and for her mother, for Mrs. Weston be- 


OF OLD MAINE 


85 


came worried at the sight of her daughter’s 
flushed cheeks and frightened eyes. She decided 
that it was best for Rebecca to remain in bed; 
and, had it not been for the frequent doses of 
bitter herb tea which her mother insisted on her 
drinking, Rebby would have been well satisfied 
to hide herself away from everyone. 

Anna helped her mother about the household 
work, thinking to herself that probably Melvina 
Lyon was doing the same. After the dishes had 
been washed and set away Mrs. Weston sug- 
gested that Ajina should run down to Luretta 
Foster’s. 

“ ’Twill be best to keep the house quiet this 
morning, and you can see the rabbits,” she added. 

“But, Mother I I am not noisy. Do I not 
step quietly, and more softly? ” pleaded Anna. 
She was quite ready to run off to her friend’s, 
but she was sure her mother must notice that she 
was no longer the noisy girl who ran in and out 
of the house singing and laughing. 

“ Well, my dear child, you have been ‘Anna,’ 
not ‘ Dan,’ for a week past. And I know not 
what has turned you into so quiet and well-be- 
haved a girl,” responded her mother. “ But run 
along, and be sure and inquire if there be any 


86 A LITTLE MAID 

news of the rascal who made way with the liberty 
tree.” 

Anna started off very sedately, measuring her 
steps and holding her head a little on one side as 
she had noticed that Melvina sometimes did. She 
was thinking of Rebby, and what a pity it was to 
have to stay indoors when the sun was so warm, 
and when there were so many pleasant things to 
do. “ I will go over on the hill and get her some 
young checkerberry leaves,” resolved Anna, re- 
membering how Rebby liked their sharp flavor. 
Then she remembered that the rabbits were to be 
named that morning; and, forgetting all about 
Melvina, she ran swiftly along the path, begin- 
ning to sing in her old-time manner. 

Luretta was watching for her, and smiled 
happily when she heard Anna’s voice. “ Oh! 
She’s going to stay ‘ Danna,’ and not be like that 
stuck-up Melvina Lyon,” she thought with de- 
light; for Luretta did not think Anna would 
make a satisfactory playmate if she were going 
to change into a quiet, well-behaved girl like the 
minister’s little daughter. 

In a few minutes the girls were beside the box 
that held the captive rabbits, who looked up at 
them with startled eyes. Paul had brought a 


OF OLD MAINE 


87 


basket of fresh grass, and some bits of tender 
bark and roots on which the little creatures were 
nibbling. 

“ I do wish they were not exactly alike,” said 
Anna. 

But Luretta declared that she thought it was 
much better that way. “ Because I should want 
you to have the prettiest one, and you would 
want me to have the prettiest one, and how could 
we ever choose?” she explained; and Anna 
acknowledged that perhaps it was better that 
the rabbits should be alike in every way. After 
much discussion of names they decided that the 
rabbits must be called as nearly alike as possible ; 
and so the new pets were named “ Trit ” and 
“ Trot.” 

Every little child in the neighborhood enjoyed 
a visit at Luretta’s home. In the first place be- 
cause of Mrs. Foster’s pleasant smile and kind 
welcome, and also because of the wonderful treas- 
ures it contained. There was a great round 
ostrich egg, which Mr. Foster’s brother had 
brought from far-off Africa. This egg was 
carefully kept in a wooden box on the high 
mantel shelf ; but Mrs. Foster was never too busy 
to take it down and let the little visitor gaze at 


88 


A LITTLE MAID 


it with admiring eyes. Then there was a model 
of a water-mill, with its tiny wheels, as complete 
as if it could begin work at once. This stood on 
a table in the corner of the sitting-room, where 
anyone might stand and admire it, and hear 
Luretta or Paul tell that their father had made 
every bit of it himself. Besides these treasures 
Mrs. Foster, with a pair of scissors and a bit of 
paper, could make the most beautiful paper dolls 
that any little girl could wish to possess; and 
whenever Luretta’s friends came for a visit they 
usually took home a paper doll, or perhaps a bird 
cut from paper, or a horse. So Anna was ready 
to leave even the beautiful rabbits and go indoors. 
But this morning Mrs. Foster did not seem her 
usual cheerful self. 

“ This is sad news about our liberty tree; but 
the men have set out in boats to search for it, and 
’twill be a good omen indeed if they find and 
bring it back,” she said. 

“ My father says ’twill be a great day for the 
settlement when ’tis put up,” said Anna, looking 
longingly toward the box on the high mantel, and 
hoping she might have a look at the wonderful 
egg. 

‘‘And so it will be. With Boston in the hands 


OF OLD MAINE 


89 


of the British, and no safety on land or sea ’tis 
time each town showed some mark of loyalty,” 
declared Mrs. Foster. “ I will put on my sun- 
bonnet and we will walk to the wharves, and per- 
haps hear some news of the traitor who made way 
with it. I said at first maybe ’twas the mischief 
of some boy who did not realize what the tree 
stood for; but Paul flared up at once and said 
there was no boy on the coast of Maine who 
would do such a thing, unless ’twas a young 
Tory; and we know of no Tory here.” 

As they neared the wharf they heard a loud 
cheer from a group of men, and could see that a 
boat, rowed by Mr. Weston and Mr. Foster, was 
coming rapidly toward the shore and behind it 
trailed the fine pine sapling. 

“And there comes Parson Lyon with his little 
daughter,” said Mrs. Foster. “ He is as good a 
patriot as General Washington himself,” she 
added admiringly. 

As Mr. Lyon came near the little gimip he 
stopped for a moment. 

“ May I leave my daughter with you? ” he 
asked. “ I wish to be one of those who lift that 
sacred tree to safety.” And he hurried on to the 
wharf, leaving Melvina, who stood smiling de- 
lightedly at this unexpected meeting with Anna. 


CHAPTER VIII 


WHITE WITCHES 

For a moment both Anna and Luretta looked 
at Melvina a little doubtfull}^ for they could but 
remember and be ashamed of their part in the 
foolish game they had tried to play with her so 
short a time ago. But ^lelvina was smiling and 
friendly, and evidently had cherished no ill-feel- 
ing toward them. By the time she had replied to 
Mrs. Foster’s friendly inquiries in regard to her 
mother, Anna and Luretta were quite at their 
ease ; and Luretta said to herself that she did not 
wonder Anna wanted to be like Melvina. 
Luretta even began to wonder if it would not be 
well for her to learn to speak as softly as did 
IMelvina Lyon ; it certainly had a pleasant sound, 
she thought admiringly. 

“ I must return home,” said Mrs. Foster, ‘‘ but 
Melvina’s father will expect her to wait here for 
him; so, Luretta, you and Anna may stay with 
her until he comes. Here is a clean log where 
90 


OF OLD MAINE 91 

you can sit comfortablj^ and do not go far from 
this spot.” 

The little girls promised, and Mrs. Foster 
started for home. Hardly had she turned her 
back when Melvina clasped Anna by the hand, 
and exclaimed: “ Now you can tell me more 
about the woods, and the little animals who live 
in hollow logs or burrow under rocks, and about 
the different birds and their nests! Oh, begin 
quickly, for my father may soon return,” and 
she drew Anna toward the big log that lay near 
the path. 

“ Tell her about our rabbits, Danna,” sug- 
gested Luretta. “ My brother Paul brought me 
two little gray rabbits from the forest,” she ex- 
plained; and Melvina listened eagerly to the 
description of Trit and Trot, and of their cun- 
ning ways and bright eyes, and was told that they 
had already lost their fear of Luretta and Anna. 

“ I wish I could see them. I have never seen 
any little animals except kittens,” said Melvina. 
It seemed to Melvina that Anna and Luretta 
were very fortunate children. They could run 
about in old clothes, play on the shore and among 
the piles of lumber, and they knew many strange 
and interesting things about the creatures of the 


92 


A LITTLE MAID 


forest which she had never before heard. The 
long lessons that she had to learn each morning, 
the stint of neat stitches that she had to set each 
day, and the ceremonious visits now and then, 
when she always had to take her knitting, and 
was cautioned by her anxious mother to “ remem- 
ber that she was a minister’s daughter, and be- 
have properly, and set a good example ” — all 
these things flitted through Melvina’s thoughts 
as tiresome tasks that she would like to escape, 
and be free as Anna seemed to be. 

“ Mayn’t I bring the rabbits down here for 
IMelvina to see? ” asked Anna. “ The box would 
not be very heavy.” 

But Luretta had objections to this plan. Her 
brother had told her not to move the box from 
the sunny corner near the shed; and, beside this, 
she was sure it was too heavy for Anna to lift. 
“ If you should let it fall they might get out and 
run away,” she concluded. Then, noticing 
Anna’s look of disappointment, she added: “ I 
know what you may do, Danna. You and Mel- 
vina may go up and see the rabbits, and I will 
wait here for Parson Lyon and tell him where 
Melvina is, and that we will see her safely home; 
and then I will hurry after you.” 


OF OLD MAINE 


93 


“ Oh! Yes, indeed; that is a splendid plan,” 
said Melvina eagerly, jumping up from the log. 
“ Let us go now, Anna. And is not Luretta 
kind to think of it? ” 

Anna agreed rather soberly. Mrs. Foster had 
told them to remain near the log, she remembered, 
but if Melvina saw no harm in Luretta’s plan she 
was sure it must be right; so taking Melvina’s 
hand they started off. 

“ Let’s run, Anna,” urged Melvina; for Anna 
was walking sedately, in the manner in which 
she had so often seen Melvina come down the 
path, and she was a little surprised that her com- 
panion had not at once noticed it. But Anna 
was always ready to run, and replied quickly: 
“ Let’s race, and see who can get to the black- 
smith shop first.” 

Away went the two little girls, Melvina’s long 
braids dancing about, and her starched skirts 
blown back as she raced along; and, greatly to 
Anna’s surprise, Melvina passed her and was 
first at the shop. 

“I beat! I beat!” exclaimed Melvina, her 
dark eyes shining and her face flushed with the 
unwonted exercise. 

“ You do everything best,” Anna declared 


94 A LITTLE MAID 

generously, but I did not know that you could 
run so fast.” 

“ Neither did I,” Melvina acknowledged 
laughingly. Anna felt a little puzzled by this 
sudden change in Melvina, which was far more 
noticeable than Anna’s own effort to give up her 
boyish ways and become a quiet, sedate little girl. 
For ever since the few hours of freedom on the 
shore, on the day of the tempest, Melvina had 
endeavored to be as much like Anna as possible. 
She ran, instead of walking slowly, whenever she 
was out of her mother’s sight. She had even 
neglected her lessons to go out-of-doors and 
watch a family of young robins one morning, 
and had been immediately called in by her sur- 
prised mother. In fact, Melvina had tried in 
every way to do things that she imagined Anna 
liked to do. She had even besought her mother 
to cut off her hair; but, as she dared not give her 
reason for such a wish, ^Irs. Lyon had reproved 
her sharply, saying that it was a great misfortune 
for a little girl not to have smoothly braided hair, 
or long curls. So while Anna endeavored to 
cover her pretty curly hair, to behave sedately, 
and give up many of her outdoor games, in order 
to be like Melvina, Melvina was wishing that she 


OF OLD MAINE 


95 


could be exactly like Anna; and as they stood 
looking at each other at the end of their race each 
little girl noticed a change in the other which she 
could not understand, and they started off toward 
Luretta’s home at a more sober pace. 

“ Here they are,” said Anna, as they came to 
the corner of the shed and saw the rabbits looking 
out at them between the slats of the box. 

Melvina kneeled down close to the box and 
exclaimed admiringly as Trit and Trot scurried 
away to the farthest corner. 

“ I do wish I could touch one! Would it not 
be fun to dress them up like dolls ! ” she said. 
“ If they were mine I would dress them up in 
bonnets and skirts, and teach them to bow. Oh, 
Anna! Can’t we take one out? One of them is 
yours, Luretta said so; let us take out your rab- 
bit, Anna.” 

“ But we haven’t anything to dress it up in,” 
said Anna, beginning to think that Melvina was 
a good deal like other little girls after all. 

“ Could we not take your rabbit over to my 
house, Anna? My mother has gone to Mrs. 
Burnham’s to spend the day, and we could take 
Trot up to my room and dress her up and play 
games. Do, Anna!” urged Melvina. 


96 


A LITTLE MAID 


“ It would be great sport indeed/’ agreed 
Anna eagerly; “ we could call Trot by some fine 
name, like Queen Elizabeth, and have your dolls 
for visitors.” 

“ Yes, yes, we could! Or play Trot was a lion 
that we had captured in Africa. Where is the 
door to the box, Anna? ” and Melvina’s dark eyes 
shone more brightly than ever as Anna slid back 
the little door that Paul had so carefully made, 
and, after several vain efforts, finally secured one 
of the rabbits and quickly wrapped it in the skirt 
of her dress. 

‘‘ Shut the door, Melvina ! Quick 1 or the other 
will run out,” she said, but although Melvina has- 
tened to obey she was only just in time to catch 
the second rabbit in her hands; an instant later 
and it would have scampered away free. 

“ Put your skirt around it. Hurry, and let’s 
run. Mrs. Foster is coming,” whispered Anna, 
and the two little girls ran swiftly behind the 
shed, holding the trembling frightened rabbits, 
and then across the fields toward Mr. Lyon’s 
house. Not until they reached the back door of 
the parsonage did either of them remember 
Luretta, and then it was Anna who ex- 
claimed: 


OF OLD MAINE 


97 


“ But what will Luretta think when she comes 
home and does not find us, and sees the empty 
box?” 

“ She won’t go home for a long time; we will 
be back and the rabbits safe in their box by that 
time,” declared Melvina. “We will go up the 
back stairs, Anna; and we need not be quiet, for 
London has gone fishing. We will have a fine 
time! Oh, Anna, I am so glad you stopped me 
that day when we went wading, for now we are 
friends,” she continued, leading the way up- 
stairs. 

“ But I was horrid, Melvina,” Anna said, re- 
calling her efforts to make Melvina appear silly 
and ignorant so that Luretta would scorn 
her. 

“ No, indeed, you were not,” responded Mel- 
vina. “ When we played on the shore you made 
me laugh and run. I never played like that 
before.” 

“ Well, I think you are real good,” said Anna 
humbly, as she followed Melvina into a pleasant 
sunny chamber. “ Most girls would have been 
angry when their fine clothes were spoiled; and 
you were punished too, and I was not ; ” and 
Anna looked at Melvina admiringly, thinking to 


98 


A LITTLE MAID 


herself that she would do anything that Melvina 
could ask to make up to her for that undeserved 
punishment. 

“ You will have to hold both the rabbits while 
I get my dolls,” said Melvina; and Anna’s atten- 
tion was fully occupied in keeping the two little 
creatures safe and quiet in the folds of her skirt, 
which she held together bag fashion, while Mel- 
vina drew a large box from the closet and took 
out three fine dolls. 

Anna gazed at the dolls admiringly. Each 
one wore a gown of blue silk, and little shirred 
bonnets to match. Melvina explained that they, 
the dolls, all wanted to dress just alike. 

“We will put these on Trit and Trot,” she 
said, drawing out two white skirts from her col- 
lection of doll clothes. “ And see these little 
white bonnets ! ” and she held up two tiny round 
bonnets of white muslin; “ these will be just the 
thing.” 

The rabbits submitted to being dressed. Both 
the girls were very gentle with them, and gradu- 
ally the little creatures grew less frightened. 
Neither Anna nor Melvina had ever had such de- 
lightful playthings before. The rabbits were 
Queen Elizabeth and Lady Washington, and the 


OF OLD MAINE 


99 


dolls came to bow low before them. The time 
passed very rapidly, and not until London was 
seen coming toward the house to prepare the 
noonday meal did the little girls give another 
thought to Luretta. Melvina, glancing from the 
window, saw London coming up the path with 
his basket of fish. She was holding Lady Wash- 
ington, and for a second her clasp was less firm, 
and that was enough. With a leap the rabbit 
was through the open window, the white skirt 
fluttering about it. Anna, starting up in sur- 
prise, let go Queen Elizabeth, who followed 
Lady Washington through the window so closely 
that it was small wonder that London dropped 
his basket of fish and ran back a few steps with a 
loud cry. After a few scrambling leaps the 
rabbits disappeared, and London, trembling with 
fright, for he believed that the strange leaping 
creatures dressed in white must be some sort of 
evil witches, picked up his basket, and shaking 
his head and muttering to himself, came slowly 
toward the house. 

“And there comes my father, and Luretta is 
with him,” exclaimed Melvina. “ What shall we 
do, Anna? And what will Luretta say when we 
tell her about the rabbits? Come, we must be 


100 


A LITTLE MAID 


at the front door when they get here, or my father 
will fear I am lost.” 

Mr. Lyon smiled as he saw his little girl stand- 
ing in the doorway, and his troubled look van- 
ished. But Luretta looked flushed and angry. 
All the morning she had been sitting on the log 
waiting for Mr. Lyon, and when he came at last 
she had hurried home only to find that her mother 
had not seen either of the girls, and Luretta had 
run after Mr. Lyon to tell him this, and accom- 
panied him to the door. 

“ I will walk home with Luretta,” Anna said 
with unusual meekness. Melvina watched them 
go, a little frightened at the end of the morning’s 
fun. She did not know what they could say to 
Luretta to explain their mischief. At that mo- 
ment London came into the front entry. 

“ I’se seen strange sights this mornin’, massa! ” 
he said, rolling his eyes. ‘‘ I’se seen white witches 
flyin’ out ob dis house.” 

“ London! Do not talk of such wickedness,” 
said Mr. Lyon sharply. “ Even your little mis- 
tress is amused at such absurd talk,” for Melvina, 
knowing what London had seen, was laughing 
heartily. But London, shaking his head sol- 
emnly, went back to the kitchen, sure that he 


OF OLD MAINE 


101 


had seen a strange and awful sight, and resolved 
to s]3eak to Mr. Lyon again of the matter. 

“ Well, Danna Weston! You can’t have one 
of my rabbits now, after treating me this way,” 
said Luretta. “And I am not going to walk 
home with you, either,” and she ran swiftly ahead. 

Anna did not huriy after her, as Luretta 
hoped and expected. She began to feel very 
unhappy. Trit and Trot were gone, and who 
could tell but the skirts and bonnets might not 
strangle them? Then, suddenly, she remem- 
bered that Rebecca was at home ill, and that she 
had entirely forgotten her, and the young check- 
erberry leaves she had intended picking for her 
sister. She put the thought that it was all Mel- 
vina’s fault out of her mind. Even if it were, 
had not she, Anna, led Melvina into a more seri- 
ous trouble on the day of the tempest? She 
resolved that she would take all the blame of the 
lost rabbits, that Melvina should not even be 
questioned about them if she could help it. But 
it was a very sober little girl who went up the 
path toward home. 


CHAPTER IX 
Rebecca's visit 

Before Anna reached home Rebecca had de- 
cided that she must see Lucia Horton as soon as 
possible; for she began to fear that Lucia in some 
way might betray their secret ; but Rebecca knew 
that her mother would not consent to her going 
out until she appeared more like her usual self 
than she had at breakfast time. So she brushed 
her hair neatly, bathed her face, and just before 
Anna’s return home, came into the kitchen. 

“ My head does not ache at all, IMother,” she 
announced, “ and I feel as well as ever.” 

Mrs. Weston looked at Rebby in astonishment. 
“I declare!” she exclaimed, “if thoroughwort 
tea doesn’t beat all ! But I never knew it to act 
as quickly before. Well, I must take time and 
go to the swamp for a good supply of it before 
this month goes. ’Tis best when gathered in 
May.” 

“ May I not walk over and see Lucia? ” Rebby 
102 


OF OLD MAINE 


103 


asked a little fearfully, wondering what she could 
do if her mother refused. 

“Why, yes; it will very likely do you good. 
But walk slowly, dear child,” responded Mrs. 
Weston, taking Rebecca’s sunbonnet from its 
peg behind the door and tying the strings under 
Rebby’s round chin. 

“ When the Polly comes into harbor you will 
have the gold beads from your Grandmother 
Weston, in Boston; but how Danna guessed it is 
more than I can imagine,” she said, and Rebecca 
started down the path. Mrs. Weston stood for 
a moment in the doorway looking after her. She 
was more disturbed by Rebecca’s sudden illness 
than she wished to acknowledge. 

“ I wish indeed that the Polly and C7mY?/ would 
come; perchance it is the lack of proper food that 
ails the children: too much Indian meal, and no 
sweets or rice or dried fruits,” she thought anx- 
iously. “And to think ’tis England, our own 
kinsfolk, who can so forget that we learned what 
justice and loyalty mean from England herself,” 
she said aloud, as she returned to her household 
duties. For Mrs. Weston, like so many of the 
American colonists, had been born in an English 
village, and knew that the trouble between Eng- 


104 


A LITTLE MAID 


land and her American colonies was caused by 
the injustice of England’s king, and his refusal 
to listen to wise advisers. 

Lucia Horton’s home lay in an opposite direc- 
tion from the blacksmith shop. It stood very 
near the shore, and from its upper windows there 
was a good view of the harbor. It had no yard 
or garden in front, as did so many of the simple 
houses of the settlement, and the front door 
opened directly on the rough road which led 
along the shore. 

Rebecca rapped on the door a little timidly, 
and when Mrs. Horton opened it and said smil- 
ingly: “ Why, here is the very girl I have been 
wanting to see. Come right in, Rebecca Flora,” 
she was rather startled. 

“ Lucia is not very well,” Mrs. Horton con- 
tinued, “ and she has been saying that she must, 
must see Rebecca Flora; so it is most fortunate 
that you have arrived. Some great secret, I sup- 
pose,” and Mrs. Horton smiled pleasantly, little 
imagining how important the girls’ secret was. 
Her two elder sons, boys of fifteen and seven- 
teen, were on the Polly with their father, and she 
and Lucia were often alone. 

Rebecca had but stepped into the house when 


OF OLD MAINE 


105 


she heard her name called from the stairway. 
“ Oh, Rebecca, come right up-stairs,” called 
Lucia, and Mrs. Horton nodded her approval. 
“ Yes, run along. ’Twill do Lucia good to see 
you. I cannot imagine what ails her to-day. I 
saw one of the O’Brien boys passing just now, 
and he tells me their liberty tree has been found 
and brought to shore! ” 

“ Oh 1 ” exclaimed Rebecca in so surprised a 
tone that Mrs. Horton laughed. “ ’Twould 
have been full as well if the tree had been allowed 
to drift out to sea,” she added in a lower tone. 

Rebecca went up-stairs so slowly that Lucia 
called twice before her friend entered the cham- 
ber where Lucia, bolstered up in bed, and with 
flushed cheeks and looking very much as Rebby 
herself had looked an hour earlier, was waiting 
for her. 

“ Shut the door tightly,” whispered Lucia, and 
Rebecca carefully obeyed, and then tiptoed to- 
ward the bed. 

For a moment the two girls looked at each 
other, and then Lucia whispered: ‘‘What will 
become of us, Rebecca? Mr. O’Brien told 
Mother that the men were determined to find out 
who pushed the liberty tree afloat, and that no 


106 


A LITTLE MAID 


mercy would be shown the guilty. That’s just 
what he said, Rebby, for I heard him,” and Lucia 
began to cry. 

“ But the tree is found and brought back,” said 
Rebecca, “ and how can anyone ever find out that 
we did it? No one will know unless we tell; and 
you wouldn’t tell, would you, Lucia? ” 

Lucia listened eagerly, and gradually Rebecca 
grew more courageous, and declared that she 
was not at all afraid; that is, if Lucia would sol- 
emnly promise never to tell of their creeping 
down to the shore and cutting the rope that held 
the tree to the stake. 

‘‘ Of course I never would tell,” said Lucia, 
who was now out of bed and dressing as rapidly 
as possible. “ I wasn’t ill; but I stayed up-stairs 
because I was afraid you might tell,” she con- 
fessed; and then Rebecca owned that she had felt 
much the same. “ But I had to take a big bowl- 
ful of bitter thorough wort tea,” she added, mak- 
ing a little face at the remembrance. 

“ Well, you are a better medicine than thor- 
oughwort tea,” said Lucia; and Mrs. Horton 
opened the door just in time to hear this. 

“ Why, it is indeed so,” she said, looking in 
surprise at her little daughter, who seemed quite 


OF OLD MAINE 


107 


as well as usual. “ Your father has just passed, 
Rebecca, and I asked his permission for you to 
stay to dinner with us, and he kindly agreed. I 
think now I must have a little celebration that 
Lucia has recovered so quickly,” and with a smil- 
ing nod she left the two girls. 

“ I know what that means,” declared Lucia, 
for the moment forgetting the danger of discov- 
ery. “ It means that we shall have rice cooked 
with raisins, and perhaps guava jelly or sugared 
nuts.” 

Rebecca looked at her friend as if she could 
hardly believe her own ears ; for the dainties that 
Lucia named so carelessly were seldom enjoyed 
in the remote settlement; and although Captain 
Horton took care that his own pantry was well 
supplied it was not generally known among his 
neighbors how many luxuries his family enjoyed. 

“ Surely you are but maldng believe,” said 
Rebecca. 

“No, truly, Rebby; we Avill likely have all 
those things to-day, since Mother said ’twould be 
a celebration ; and I am glad indeed that you are 
here. You do not have things like that at your 
house, do you? ” said Lucia. 

Rebecca could feel her cheeks flush, but she did 


108 


A LITTLE MAID 


not know why she felt angry at what Lucia had 
said. It was true that the Westons, like most of 
their neighbors, had only the plainest food, but 
she wished herself at home to share the corn bread 
and baked fish that would be her mother’s noon- 
day meal. She was silent so long that Lucia 
looked at her questioningly ; and when Mrs. Hor- 
ton called them to dinner they went down-stairs 
very quietly. 

The table was set with plates of shining pew- 
ter. There was a loaf of white bread, now but 
seldom seen in the settlement, and a fine omelet; 
and, even as Lucia had said, there was boiled rice 
with raisins in it, and guava jelly. 

Rebecca was hungry, and here was a treat 
spread before her such, as Lucia had truly said, 
she never had at home ; but to Mrs. Horton’s sur- 
prise and Lucia’s dismay, Rebecca declared that 
she must go home; and taking her sunbonnet, 
with some stammering words of excuse she has- 
tened away. 

“A very ill-bred child,” declared Mrs. Horton, 
“ and I shall be well pleased if your father can 
take us away from this forsaken spot on his next 
trip.” 

Lucia sat puzzled and half frightened at Re- 


OF OLD MAINE 


109 


becca's sudden departure. Lucia did not for a 
moment imagine that anything she had said could 
have sent Rebecca flying from the house. 

Mr. and Mrs. Weston and Anna were nearly 
through dinner when Rebecca appeared, and 
Mrs. Weston declared herself well pleased that 
Rebby had come home; there were no questions 
asked, and it seemed to Rebby that nothing had 
ever tasted better than the corn bread and the 
boiled fish; she had not a regretful thought for 
the Hortons’ dainties. 

Anna told the story of all that had occurred to 
her that morning; of taking the rabbits to the 
parsonage, and of London’s exclamation and ter- 
ror at the “ white witches,” and last of all of 
Luretta’s anger. “And I didn’t even tell Lu- 
retta that the rabbits were lost,” concluded the 
little girl, and then, with a deep sigh, she added; 
“ I suppose I will have to go right over and tell 
her.” 

“ Yes,” replied her mother gravely, “ you must 
go at once. And you must tell Luretta how 
sorry you are for taking the rabbits from the box. 
And fail not to say to Mrs. Foster that you are 
ashamed at not keeping your promise.” 

Mr. Weston did not speak, but Rebecca no- 


110 


A LITTLE MAID 

ticed that he seemed pleased rather than vexed 
with his little daughter. “ That’s because Anna 
always tells everything,” thought Rebecca. 
‘‘ But if I should tell what I did last night he 
would think me too wicked to forgive,” and at 
the thought she put her head on the table and 
began to cry. 

“ Why, Rebby, dear! ’Tis my fault in letting 
you go out this morning,” exclaimed Mrs. Wes- 
ton, now quite sure that Rebecca was really ill. 
But in a few moments her tears ceased, and she 
was ready to help with washing the dishes and 
setting the room in order. 

“ I will walk along with you, Danna,” said her 
father, when Anna was ready to start on the un- 
pleasant errand of owning her fault to Luretta, 
and they started out together, Anna holding fast 
to her father’s hand. 

‘‘ I wish I need not go. Father,” Anna said as 
they walked along. 

Mr. Weston’s clasp on his little daughter’s 
hand tightened. “Let me see; do you not re- 
member the verse from the Bible that ‘ he who 
conquers his own spirit is braver than he who 
taketh a city ’? ” he questioned gently. 

Anna looked up at him wonderingly, and Mr. 


OF OLD MAINE 


111 


Weston continued: “ It is your courage in own- 
ing your fault that makes you a conqueror, and 
as brave as a brave soldier.” 

“As brave as Washington? ” asked Anna, and 
when her father smiled down at her she smiled 
back happily. Probably a little girl could not be 
as brave as a great soldier, she thought, but if her 
father was pleased it would not be so hard, after 
all, to tell Luretta about Trit and Trot. But 
Anna again firmly resolved that she would take 
all the blame herself; Melvina should not be 
blamed in any way for the loss of the rabbits. 


CHAPTER X 


AN AFTERNOON WALK 

At the turn by the blacksmith shop Mr. Wes- 
ton said good-bye, and Anna went on alone to 
Luretta’s home. The front door was open, and 
before she reached the house she heard someone 
ciying, and when she stood on the door-step she 
realized that it was Luretta, and that Mrs. Foster 
was endeavoring to comfort her. 

“ The rabbits are much happier to be free to 
run back to the woods. Perhaps by this time 
they have found their mother, and are telling all 
their adventures to their brothers and sisters,” 
she heard Mrs. Foster say. 

“ But Danna and Melvina may have taken 
them,” sobbed Luretta; and then Anna rapped 
at the door. 

“ Come in,” called Mrs. Foster, and Anna, a 
little timidly, entered the sitting-room. 

Luretta looked up, but did not speak. 

112 


OF OLD MAINE 


113 


“ Come right in, Anna,” said Mrs. Foster 
pleasantly. “ Luretta has bad news for you; the 
rabbits are gone.” 

Anna did not look up, and there was an un- 
comfortable silence for a moment. Then she 
began her story : 

“ If you please. Mistress Foster, I am sorry 
I broke my promise to you this morning. You 
bade me to wait with Melvina by the big log, and 
I did not.” 

“ You came and took my rabbits,” wailed Lu- 
retta, “ and I s’pose you gave one to that stuck- 
up Melvina.” 

Anna nodded. “ Yes, I did take them; but I 
meant to bring them back, Luretta, truly I did. 
But they got away.” 

A fresh wail from Luretta made Anna look 
pleadingly up at Mrs. Foster, whose eyes rested 
kindly upon her. 

“ Luretta, stop thy foolish crying,” said Mrs. 
Foster, “ and let Anna tell you all the story of 
the rabbits.” Then she rested her hand on 
Anna’s shoulder and said kindly: 

‘‘ I am glad, Anna, that you and Luretta are 
friends, for thou art a brave and honest child. 
Now, I must attend to my work, and I will leave 


114 


A LITTLE MAIL 


you,” and the two little girls found themselves 
alone in the room. 

Luretta was sitting in the big cushioned 
wooden rocker, with her face hidden against the 
back. Anna was standing in front of her, trying 
to think of something to say that would make 
Luretta forgive her. Then she heard Luretta’s 
half-smothered voice say: “Do you s’pose our 
rabbits did find their mother? ” 

“ I don’t know, Luretta, but I only meant to 
let Mel villa play with them. We — I took them 
out and carried them over to Melvina’s house and 

we dressed them up in doll’s clothes ” 

“ Yes? Yes? And what else? ” asked Luretta 
eagerly, now facing about and forgetting all her 
anger in hearing what Anna had to tell. So 
Anna went on and described all that had hap- 
pened, imitating London’s cry of terror at the 
sight of the “ white witches.” At this Luretta 
began to laugh, and Anna came nearer to the big 
chair, and even ventured to rest against its arm. 

“ Luretta, let’s you and I go up the trail to- 
ward the forest. Perhaps we might find Trit 
and Trot,” she suggested. 

Luretta was out of the chair in a moment; and, 
quite forgetting all her anger toward Anna, she 


OF OLD MAINE 


115 


agreed promptly and the two little girls, hand in 
hand, came into the kitchen and told Mrs. Foster 
their plan. 

She listened smilingly, but cautioned them not 
to go beyond the edge of the forest. 

“You might meet some animal larger than a 
rabbit,” she warned them ; “ ’tis the time when 
bears are about nibbling the tender bark and buds 
of the young trees ; so go not into the wood. Be- 
side that a party of Indians were seen near the 
upi)er falls yesterday.” 

“ But the Indians come often to the village, 
and do no harm,” said Anna. 

But Mrs. Foster shook her head. She remem- 
bered that the Indians could not always be 
trusted. The little girls promised to follow the 
trail only to the edge of the wood, and started 
soberly off. 

“ We might see Trit and Trot behind any 
bush, might we not? ” suggested Luretta hope- 
fully. 

“Perhaps we might see a little baby bear! 
Would it not be fine if we could catch two little 
bears instead of rabbits?” responded Anna, as 
they climbed the hill, stopping now and then to 
pick the tender young checkerberry leaves, or 


116 


A LITTLE MAID 


listen to the song of some woodland bird. A 
group of young spruce trees stood beside the 
trail, and here the two little girls stopped to rest. 
The sun was warm, and they both were glad to 
sit down in the pleasant shade. 

They talked about the Polly, wondering when 
she would come to port, and then their thoughts 
went back to their lost pets. 

“ I do think you ought not to have taken them 
from the box. I am sure Paul will not like it 
when I tell him they are gone,” said Luretta. 

Anna’s face grew grave. “ Must you tell 
him? ” she asked. 

‘‘ Of course I must. He will bring home 
young leaves and roots for them to-night, and 
what will he say ! ” and Luretta’s voice sounded 
as if tears were veiy near. 

While Luretta spoke Anna’s eyes had been 
fixed on a little clump of bushes on the other side 
of the trail. The bushes moved queerly. There 
was no wind, and Anna was sure that some little 
animal was hiding behind the shrubs. Greatly 
excited, Anna leaned forward, grasping Lu- 
retta’s arm. 

“ Look! those bushes! ” she whispered. 

At that moment a queer ball of dingy white 


OF OLD MAINE 


117 


appeared on the opposite side of the trail, and 
instantly Anna sprang toward it. Her hands 
grasped the torn and twisted piece of floating 
cloth, and closed upon the poor frightened little 
creature, one of the lost rabbits, nearly fright- 
ened to death by the strange garment that had 
prevented his escape. 

If he could have spoken he would have begged 
for the freedom that his brother had achieved; 
but he could only tremble and shrink from the 
tender hands that held him so flrmly. 

In a moment Anna had unfastened the doll’s 
skirt, and Trit, or Trot, was once more clear of 
the detested garment. 

“ Oh, Danna ! Do you suppose we can take it 
safely home? ” exclaimed the delighted Luretta. 

“ Just see how frightened he is,” Anna re- 
sponded. Somehow she no longer wished to 
take the little creature back and shut it up. 

“ Do you suppose its mother is trying to find 
it? ” she continued thoughtfully. 

“And would it tell its brothers and sisters all 
its adventures, just as Mother said? ” questioned 
Luretta. 

“ Why not? ” Anna’s brown eyes sparkled. 
“ Of course it would. Probably Trot is safe 


118 


A LITTLE MAID 


home by this time, and all the rabbit family are 
looking out for Trit.” 

Anna looked hopefully toward Luretta. If 
Trit went free it must be Luretta’s gift. Anna 
felt that she had no right to decide. 

“Let him go, Danna,’’ said Luretta softly; 
and very gently Anna released her clasp on the 
soft little rabbit. It looked quickly up, and with 
a bound it was across the trail and out of sight. 

Both the girls drew a long breath. 

“ I will tell Paul about Trit’s mother and 
brothers and sisters,” said Luretta, as they 
started toward home. “ Probably he will laugh; 
but I guess he will say they ought to be free.” 

Both Anna and Luretta were very quiet on the 
walk home. Anna began to feel tired. It 
seemed to her that a great deal had happened 
since morning. She remembered the liberty 
pole, with a little guilty sense of having been 
more interested in the rabbits, and in Melvina 
and Luretta, than in the safety of the emblem of 
freedom. But she was glad that Luretta was no 
longer angry at her. 

“You don’t care much about the rabbits, do 
you, Danna? ” Luretta asked, as they stopped 
near Luretta’s house to say good-bye. 


OF OLD MAINE 


119 


“ I am glad they are free,” replied Anna. “ It 
would be dreadful to have giants catch us, 
wouldn’t it? ” 

Luretta agreed soberly, thinking that to the 
rabbits she must have seemed a giant. 

“ Father will say ’twas best to let them go, 
whatever Paul says,” she added, and promising 
to meet the next day the friends parted. 

Anna danced along the path in her old fashion, 
quite forgetting Melvina’s measured steps. 
Everything was all right now. She and Luretta 
were friends; Mrs. Foster had pardoned her; and 
the liberty pole was found. So she was smiling 
and happy as she pushed open the door and en- 
tered the pleasant kitchen, expecting to see her 
mother and Rebby; but no one was there. The 
room looked deserted. She opened the door 
leading into the front room and her happy smile 
vanished. 

Her mother sat there, looking very grave and 
anxious; and facing the kitchen door and looking 
straight at Anna was Mrs. Lyon, while on a stool 
beside her sat Melvina, her flounced linen skirt 
and embroidered white sunbonnet as white as a 
gull’s breast. 

Anna looked from one to the other wonder- 


120 


A LITTLE MAW 


ingly. Of course, she thought, Mrs. Lyon had 
come to call her a mischievous girl on account of 
the rabbits. All her happiness vanished; and 
when her mother said: “ Come in, Anna. Mrs. 
Lyon has come on purpose to speak Avith you,” 
she quite forgot to curtsy to the minister’s wife, 
and stood silent and afraid. 


CHAPTER XI 


AN EXCHANGE OE VISITS 

“ It is Mr. Lyon’s suggestion,” concluded 
Mrs. Lyon, “ and Melvina is eager to come and 
live with you, Mrs. Weston, if Anna is ready to 
come to me.” 

Mrs. Lyon, it seemed to Anna, had been talk- 
ing a long time. She had said that Melvina was 
not very strong, and that possibly she was kept 
too much indoors; and then had come the as- 
tounding suggestion that, on the very next day, 
Anna should go and live with the minister and his 
wife, and Melvina should come and take her 
place. 

“Oh, do, Anna! Say you will,” Melvina 
whispered, as the two little girls found a chance 
to speak together while their mothers discussed 
the plan. For Melvina was sure that if she came 
to live in Anna’s home she would become exactly 
like Anna; as brave and as independent, and who 
could tell but what she might grow to look like 
her as well ! 


121 


122 


A LITTLE MAID 


The same thought came to Anna. Of course, 
if she lived Avith Mrs. Lyon she would learn to 
behave exactly like Melvina. But to go away 
from her father and mother and from Rebby; 
this seemed hardly to be possible. 

“ Do you want me to go, Mother? ” she asked, 
half hoping that her mother might say at once 
that it was not to be thought of. 

“ I must talk with your father; ’tis a great 
opportunity for your good, and I am sure he 
will be pleased,” replied Mrs. Weston. For had 
not the Reverend Mr. Lyon written a book, and, 
it was rumored, composed music for hymns; for 
any little girl to live in his family would be a high 
privilege. And this was what Mr. Weston 
thought when he heard of the plan. 

“ Why, it is a wise scheme indeed,” he said 
gravely; “ my little Danna is being too much fa- 
vored at home, and to be with the minister and 
his wife will teach her as much as a term in 
school.” 

“ But I am not to stay long. Father. I am 
only to stay for two weeks,” said Anna, “ and 
you must not learn to think Melvina is your little 
girl” 

“ Mr. Lyon wishes Melvina to run about as 


OF OLD MAINE 


123 


freely as we have allowed Anna/’ Mrs. Weston 
explained, “ and to have no lessons or tasks of 
any kind, and to spend an hour each afternoon at 
home while Anna does the same.” 

“ But I am to have lessons, just as if I were 
Melvina,” Anna declared, and before bedtime it 
was decided that on the next day Anna should 
go to the minister’s to remain a fortnight. 

Rebecca was the only one who did not think 
well of the plan. “ I do not want Danna to go,” 
she said over and over ; and added that she should 
not know how to treat Melvina, or what to say to 
her. It was Rebecca who went with Anna to 
Mr. Lyon, carrying the small package containing 
Anna’s clothing, and she brought back Melvina’s 
carefully packed basket. Mrs. Lyon looked 
worried and anxious as she saw Melvina start off 
for the Westons’; but she gave her no cautions or 
directions, beyond telling her to be obedient to 
Mrs. Weston. Then she took Anna’s hand and 
led her up-stairs to the pleasant room where she 
and Melvina had played so happily with the 
rabbits. 

“ You can leave your sunbonnet here, Anna, 
and then come down to the library. This is the 
hour for your lesson in English history.” 


124 


A LITTLE MAID 


“ ‘ English history/ ” Anna repeated to herself 
excitedly. She wondered what it could mean. 
But if it was something that JNIelvina did she was 
eager to begin. 

Mr. Lyon smiled down at his little visitor as 
she curtsied in the doorway. He hoped his own 
little daughter might return with eyes as bright 
and cheeks as glowing. 

“ This is where Melvina sits for her study 
hour,” he said, pointing to a small chair near a 
side window. There was a table in front of the 
chair, and on the table was spread a brightly col- 
ored map. 

“ To-day we are to discover something of the 
English opinion of Americans,” began Mr. 
Lyon, taking up a small book. “ It is always 
wise to know the im]3ortant affairs of the time in 
which we live, is it not, Anna? ” he said thought- 
fully. 

“ Yes, sir,” responded Anna seriously, sitting 
very straight indeed and feeling of greater con- 
sequence than ever before. 

‘America’s great trouble now, remember, is 
taxation without representation,” continued the 
minister; “ and now listen carefully to what an 
Englishman has to say of it: ‘While England 


OF OLD MAINE 


125 


contends for the right of taxing America we are 
giving up substance for the shadow; we are ex- 
changing happiness for pride. If we have no 
regard for America, let us at least respect the 
mother country. In a dispute with America 
Avho would we conquer? Ourselves. Every- 
thing that injures America is injurious to Great 
Britain, and we commit a kind of political suicide 
when we endeavor to crush them into obedience.’ 

“Ah! There is still wisdom in the English 
council; but I fear it is too late,” said Mr. 
Lyon, as if speaking his thoughts aloud. “And 
now, my child, what is the subject of our lesson? ” 
he questioned, looking kindly at Anna. 

“ England and America,” she replied promptly. 

Mr. Lyon nodded. “And why does America 
firmly resolve not to be unjustly taxed?” he 
asked. 

“ Because it wouldn’t be right,” said Anna 
confidently. 

Mr. Lyon was evidently pleased by her direct 
answers. 

“ If an Englishman sees the injustice of his 
government it is small wonder that every Amer- 
ican, even to a little girl, can see that it is not to 
be borne,” said Mr. Lyon, rising and pacing up 


126 


A LITTLE MAID 


and down the narrow room, his thoughts full of 
the great conflict that had already begun between 
England and her American colonies. 

Anna’s eyes turned toward the map. There 
was a long yellow strip marked “American Col- 
onies,” then, lower down, a number of red blots 
and circles with “ The West Indies ” printed 
across them. Far over on the end of the map 
was a queerly shaped green object marked 
“Asia ” and below it a beautiful blue place called 
“ Europe.” Anna was so delighted and inter- 
ested in discovering France, and Africa, the 
-®gean Sea, and the British Isles, that she quite 
forgot where she was. But as she looked at the 
very small enclosure marked “ England,” and 
then at the long line of America she suddenly ex- 
claimed: “America need not be afraid.” 

Mr. Lyon had seated himself at his desk, and 
at the sound of Anna’s voice he looked up in sur- 
prise. 

“ Why, child! You have been so quiet I had 
forgotten you. Run out to the sitting-room to 
Mrs. Lyon,” and Anna obeyed, not forgetting to 
curtsy as she left the room. 

Mrs. Lyon had a basket piled high with work. 
There were stockings to be darned, pillow-cases 


OF OLD MAINE 


127 


to be neatly repaired, and an apron of stout drill- 
ing to be hemmed. Anna’s task was to darn 
stockings. She was given Melvina’s thimble to 
use, a smooth wooden ball to slip into the stock- 
ing, and a needle and skein of cotton. 

How long the afternoon seemed! Never be- 
fore had Anna stayed indoors for the whole of a 
May afternoon. She felt tired and sleepy, and 
did not want to walk about the garden after sup- 
per — as Mrs. Lyon kindly suggested; and not 
until Mrs. Lyon said that Melvina, on every 
pleasant day, walked about the garden after sup- 
per, did Anna go slowly down the path. But she 
stood at the gate looking in the direction of her 
home with wistful eyes. 

“ Two weeks,” she whispered; it seemed so 
long a time could never pass. Then she remem- 
bered that the next day she would go home for 
the daily visit agreed upon. 

If the days passed slowly with Anna, to Mel- 
vina they seemed only too short. She had 
quickly made friends with Rebecca, and the elder 
girl was astonished at the daring spirit of the 
minister’s daughter. Melvina would balance 
herself on the very edge of the bluff, when she 
and Rebby, often followed by a surprised and 


128 


A LITTLE MAID 


unhappy Luretta, went for a morning walk. Or 
on their trips to the lumber yard for chips Mel- 
vina would climb to the top of some pile of timber 
and dance about as if trying to make Rebby 
frightened lest she fall. She went wading along 
the shore, and brought home queerly shaped 
rocks and tiny mussel-shells; and, as her father 
had hoped, her cheeks grew rosy and her eyes 
bright. 

The day set for the erection of the liberty pole 
was the last day of the “ exchange visit ” of the 
two little girls, and Anna was now sure that Mrs. 
Lyon must think her very much like Melvina, for 
she had learned her daily lessons obediently, and 
moved about the house as quietly as a mouse. 

But when she awoke on the morning of the day 
upon which she was to return home she was sure 
it was the happiest day of her life. Mrs. Lyon 
had even called her a “ quiet and careful child,” 
and the minister smiled upon her, and said that 
she “ was a loyal little maid.” So she had great 
reason for being pleased; and the thought of be- 
ing home again made her ready to dance with 
delight. 

The day that the tree of liberty was planted 
was declared a holiday, and the inhabitants of the 


OF OLD MAINE 


129 


town gathered on the bluff where it was to be set. 
Melvina and Anna and Luretta were together, 
and the other children of the neighborhood were 
scattered about. 

“ Where is Rebby, Mother? ” Anna asked, 
looking about for her sister. 

“ To be sure ! She started off with Lucia Hor- 
ton, but I do not see them,” responded Mrs. 
Weston, smiling happily to think that her own 
little Danna would no longer be absent from 
home. 

There was great rejoicing among the people as 
the tree was raised, and citizen after citizen 
stepped forward and made solemn pledges to re- 
sist England’s injustice to the Amierican colonies. 
Then, amid the shouts of the assembled inhabit- 
ants, the discharge of musketry, and the sound of 
fife and drum, Machias took its rightful place 
among the defenders of American liberty. 

But Rebecca Weston and Lucia Horton, sit- 
ting in an upper window of the Horton house, 
looked out at the inspiring scene without wishing 
to be any nearer. Rebecca was ashamed when 
she remembered her own part in trying to pre- 
vent the erection of a liberty pole, for now she 
realized all it stood for; and she was no longer 


130 


A LITTLE MAID 


afraid of an attack upon the town by an English 
gunboat. To Rebecca it seemed that such an at- 
tack would bring its own punishment. Her 
thoughts were now filled by a great desire to do 
something, something difficult and even danger- 
ous to her own safety, in order to make up for 
that evening when she had crept out in the 
darkness and helped Lucia send the tree 
adrift. 

But Lucia’s mind was filled with entirely dif- 
ferent thoughts. She was ready to cry with dis- 
appointment and fear in seeing the liberty pole 
set up. She could not forget that her father had 
said that such a thing would mean trouble. 

“ If we had not set it adrift, Lueia, we could be 
on the bluff now with the others,” Rebby whis- 
pered, as they heard the gay notes of the fife, 

“ Bosh! Who wants to be any nearer? My 
mother says ’tis a silly and foolish performanee,” 
replied Lucia. ‘‘ But perhaps ’twill be cut down 
before the Polly comes into harbor.” 

Rebecca jumped up from the window-seat, her 
face flushed and her eyes shining. 

“No one would dare, Lucia Horton. And if 
it is cut down I’ll know you, or someone in this 
house, planned it; and I will tell my father just 


OF OLD MAINE 131 

what you told me and what we did/’ she ex- 
claimed, starting toward the door. 

“ You can’t tell, ever, Rebecca Weston! You 
promised not to,” Lucia called after her, and Re- 
becca stopped suddenly. Lucia was right. No 
matter what happened she could never reveal 
what Lucia had told her, because of her promise ; 
and a promise was a sacred thing. 

Without a word of good-bye Rebecca went 
slowly down the stairs. This was the second 
time she had left the Horton house in anger. “ I 
won’t come here again,” she thought, a little 
sadly, for she and Lucia had been “ best friends ” 
ever since Captain Horton had brought his fam- 
ily to the remote settlement. 

“ There’s Rebby,” Anna called joyfully, as 
holding her father’s hand, and with her mother 
walking close behind, she came along the path 
toward home. Rebby was walking slowly along 
a short distance in front of the little party, and 
Anna soon overtook her. 

“ Oh, Rebby! Was it not a splendid sight to 
see the liberty tree set up?” Anna exclaimed 
eagerly, ‘‘ and all the men taking off their hats 
and cheering? ” 

‘‘Yes,” responded Rebby briefly; and then 


132 


A LITTLE MAID 


looking at Anna she said: ‘‘ Oh, Danna! I wish,, 
more than anything, that I could do something to 
protect the liberty tree.” 

“ Perhaps you can, Rebby, sometime, you and 
I together,” replied Anna hopefully; “anyway, 
isn’t it lovely that I am home to stay? ” 

And to this Rebby could agree smilingly, but 
she kept in her heart the wish she had just 
uttered.: 


CHAPTER XII 

WILD HONEY 

Anna went singing about the house quite sat- 
isfied now to be herself; and Rebby and her 
mother smiled at each other at the happiness of 
the little girl. 

“ I doubt not you have learned many things, 
Danna,” said Rebby, a little wistfully, as the 
sisters sat on the broad door-step after supper 
looking down at the broad flowing river. 

“Yes, indeed!” replied Anna confidently. 
“ Why, Rebby, I know all about history. The 
minister told me that a hundred and fifty years 
ago there were English traders living right here, 
and they were driven away by the French. And 
then, some forty years ago, Governor Belcher of 
Massachusetts came cruising along this coast, and 
there was no one at all here. And, Rebby, Mr. 
Lyon says there are no such pine forests in all 
the colonies as stretch along behind this settle- 
133 


134 


A LITTLE MAID 


ment. But, Rebby, you are not listening! ” and 
Anna looked reproachfully at her sister. 

“ Oh, yes, indeed, Danna, I heard every word. 
And I heard Father say that very soon there 
would be a regular school here, with a master, 
as soon as America conquers her enemies. But, 
Danna, do you suppose anyone will dare touch 
the liberty j)ole? ” For Rebby’ s thoughts could 
not long stray from Lucia Horton’s prediction 
that it might be cut down. 

“ What’s that? ” exclaimed Mr. Weston from 
the doorway behind them. “ Cut down the lib- 
erty pole? Why, there is not a man in Machias 
who would do such a traitorous deed.” 

Rebby’s face flushed scarlet at his words, but 
before she could speak, her father continued: 
“Well, Danna, are you ready for a day’s tramp 
with me to-morrow? I must go up to the mill 
at Kwapskitchwock Falls, and we will start 
early.” 

“ Oh, yes!” exclaimed Danna, jumping up and 
clasping her father’s hand. “And perhaps we 
shall catch a salmon above the falls, and broil it 
over a fire for our dinner.” 

“ That is what we will hope to do,” replied Mr. 
Weston. “And, Rebby, why do you not come 


OF OLD MAINE 


135 


with us? 'Tis but a few miles, and a day in the 
woods will do you good.’’ 

“ Why, perhaps I shall, if Mother does not 
need me,” Rebby answered. She so seldom 
cared for woodland tramps that Anna gave a lit- 
tle exclamation of surprised delight. 

“ I’ll make a corn-cake to take with us,” Rebby 
added, “ and since we start early I had best bake 
it to-night,” and she went into the kitchen fol- 
lowed by Anna singing: 

We’ll go to the forest of liberty trees, 

Where there are rabbits and birds and bees.” 

Mrs. Weston smiled as she listened. “’T would 
indeed be fine if you could find a store of wild 
honey in the woods ; ’twould be a great help,” she 
said, measuring out the golden meal for Rebby to 
use for her corn-cake. There was no butter or 
eggs to use in its making, for all food was getting 
scarce in most of the loyal households. Rebby 
scalded the meal and stirred it carefully, then 
added milk, and turned the batter into an iron 
pan which she set over the fire. When it was 
cooked it would be a thin crispy cake that would 
be appetizing and nourishing. Rebby’s thoughts 
traveled away to the dainties of the Hortons’ 


136 A LITTLE MAID 

cupboard, but she said to herself that the “ spider 
cake,” as the corn-cake was called, especially 
when eaten in the woods with freshly broiled 
salmon, would taste far better than the jellies 
and preserved fruits of the Hortons. Rebby 
could not forget Mrs. Horton’s scorn of the lib- 
erty pole. 

The Westons were up at an early hour the 
next morning. The sun was just showing itself 
above the tops of the tall pines when the family 
sat down to their simple breakfast. Anna wore 
her skirt of tanned deerskin, moccasins, and her 
blouse of home-made flannel, while Rebecca’s 
dress was of stout cotton. Each of the girls wore 
round, turban-like hats. Anna’s was trimmed 
with the scarlet wings of a red bird, while 
Rebby’s had the white breast of a gull. 

Mr. Weston wore deerskin breeches and moc- 
casins and a flannel blouse. A stout leather belt 
about his waist carried a couple of serviceable 
knives, and he carried his musket, for the forest 
was filled with many wild animals, and the set- 
tlers were always ready to protect themselves. 

Rebby carried a basket that held the corn-cake, 
and a flint and steel from which they would strike 
the spark for their noonday fire. 


OF OLD MAINE 


137 


Anna ran along close beside her father, until 
the path narrowed so that only one could walk, 
followed by the others. The air was cool and 
full of the forest odors. Now and then birds 
flitted past them, and once or twice Anna had a 
glimpse of startled rabbits, which she was sure 
were Trit and Trot. 

“ If I could only catch one to give Luretta,” 
she thought, “ then she would forgive me for tak- 
ing the other rabbits,” for Anna’s thoughts were 
often troubled because of the loss of Luretta’s 
pets. 

Mr. Weston stopped at one point to show his 
daughters an arrow marked on a tall pine and 
pointing east. ‘‘ That is to show the beginning 
of the path to Chandler’s River settlement,” 
he explained. “ The trail is so dim that the 
woodsmen have blazed the trees to show the way. 
There is a good store of powder and shot 
at Chandler’s River,” he added, a little thought- 
fully. 

Rebby looked at the arrow, and afterward she 
had reason to remember her father’s words. 

The mill at Kwapskitchwock Falls was not in 
use at the time of their visit, and the mill workers 
were in Machias. But great booms of logs, wait- 


138 A LITTLE MAID 

ing to be sawed into lumber, lay all along the 
river banks. 

The sun was high in the heavens when the little 
party came in sight of the falls dashing over the 
rocks* 

Mr. Weston led the way to a big flat rock 
above the mill, and where two large beech trees 
cast a pleasant shade. 

“ You can rest here while I look over the mill,” 
he said, “ and then I will see if I can spear a sal- 
mon for our dinner.” 

The girls were quite ready to rest, and Rebby 
set the basket carefully on the rock beside 
them. 

“ Would it not be fine if we could catch a 
salmon and have it all cooked when F ather comes 
back? ” Anna suggested, but Rebby shook her 
head. 

We haven’t any salmon spear, and it is quick 
and skilful work,” she responded. “ Father will 
be better pleased if we obey him and rest here.” 

From where the girls were sitting they could 
look some distance up the quiet stream, and it 
was Anna who first discovered a canoe being pad- 
died close to the opposite shore. 

“ Look, Rebby,” she said, pointing in the di- 


OF OLD MAINE 139 

rection of. the slow-moving craft. “ Isn’t that an 
Indian? ” 

Rebby looked, and after a moment answered: 
“ Why, I suppose it is, and after salmon. But 
he won’t come down so near the falls.” But the 
girls watched the slow-moving canoe rather anx- 
iously until it drew close in to the opposite shore, 
and was hidden by the overhanging branches of 
the trees. 

Rebby decided that she would gather some dry 
grass and sticks for the fire, and asked Anna to 
go down near the mill and bring up some of the 
bits of wood lying about there. 

“ Then when Father does bring the salmon we 
can start a blaze right away,” she said. 

Anna ran off toward the mill yard, and Rebby 
left the shade of the big beeches to pull handfuls 
of the sun-dried grass. 

Rebby had gone but a few steps when she 
heard a queer singing murmur that seemed to be 
just above her head. She looked up, but the sky 
was clear ; there was no bird flying low, as she had 
imagined ; but as she walked along the murmur 
became louder, and Rebby began to look about 
her more carefully. A short distance from the 
flat rock was a huge stump of a broken tree, and 


140 


A LITTLE MAID 


Rebby soon realized that the noise came from the 
stump, and she approached it cautiously. 

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “It’s a honey-tree! 
It is ! It is ! ” for she had seen the bees as they 
went steadily in a dark murmuring line, direct to 
the old stump. 

“A honey-tree ” was a fortunate discovery at 
any time, for it meant a store of delicious wild 
honey. It was, as in this case, usually a partially 
decayed tree where the wild bees had swarmed, 
and where stores of honey were concealed. 
Sometimes the bees had filled the cavities of the 
tree so full that they were forced to desert it and 
find new quarters; but it was evident that here 
they were very busy indeed. 

“ They will have to be smoked out,” decided 
Rebby, who had often heard her father tell of the 
way in which such stores were captured. “ I 
wish I could do it, and get some honey for din- 
ner,” she exclaimed aloud. 

“ Well, why not? ” she heard someone say from 
behind her, and she turned quickly to find Paul 
Foster, looking so much like an Indian boy in his 
fringed leggins and feathered cap that it made 
her jump quickly. 

Paul laughed at her surprise. 


OF OLD MAINE 


141 


“ I came up-stream in my canoe after salmon/’ 
he explained, “and I have speared three beauties; 
I saw you from across the stream, so I paddled 
over. You’ve made a great find,” and he nodded 
toward the old stump. 

“ Could we smoke out the bees and get some 
honey, Paul? ” Rebby asked eagerly. She and 
Paul were nearly of an age, and Paul was a 
friendly boy, always ready to make bows and 
arrows or toy boats for his little sister and her 
girl playmates. 

“ I don’t see why not,” he responded, as if 
smoking out a hive of wild bees was a very usual 
undertaking; “ but I haven’t a flint and steel,” 
he added. 

“ I have, in my basket,” declared Rebecca ; and 
in a few minutes Paul and Rebecca had gathered 
a mass of sticks and grass, heaping it a short dis- 
tance from the stump. 

“ Mustn’t get a blaze, only a heavy smoke,” 
said Paul as he struck the flint and steel together, 
and carefully sheltered the spark which the dry 
grass instantly caught. 

At the sight of the smoke Mr. Weston came 
running from the mill, and with his assistance the 
bees were speedily disposed of. 


142 


A LITTLE MAID 


The old stump proved well filled with honey. 

“ I have a bucket in my canoe/' said Paul, and 
it was decided to fill the bucket and take home all 
it would hold, and to return the next day in 
Paul’s canoe with tubs for the rest of the honey. 

Paul insisted that Mr. Weston should accept 
one of his fine salmon to broil for their midday 
meal, and then Rebby exclaimed: 

“ Where is Danna? She went to the mill after 
wood before we found the honey-tree, and she 
isn’t back yet.” 

“ Oh! She is probably playing that she is an 
explorer on a journey to the South Seas,” 
laughed Mr. Weston. “ I will go after her,” 
and he started off toward the mill, while Rebecca 
added wood to the fire, and Paul prepared the 
salmon to broil. 

Mr. Weston called “ Danna! ” repeatedly, but 
there was no answer. He searched the yard and 
the shore, but there was no trace of his little 
daughter. He went through the big open mill, 
and peered into shadowy corners, but Anna was 
not to be found. And at last he hurried back to 
tell Paul and Rebby, and to have them help him 
in his search for the missing girl. 


CHAPTER XIII 


DOWN THE RIVER 

Anna had gathered an armful of dry wood 
and was just starting back when a queer little 
frightened cry made her stop suddenly and look 
quickly around. In a moment the noise was re- 
peated, and she realized that it came from a pile 
of logs near the river bank. Anna put down the 
Avood, and tiptoed carefully in the direction of 
the sound. 

As she came near the logs she could see a little 
gray creature struggling to get loose from a coil 
of string in which its hind legs were entangled. 

“ Oh ! It’s a rabbit ! ” Anna exclaimed. Per- 
haps it is Trit,” and she ran quickly forward. 
But the little creature was evidently more alarmed 
at her approach than at the trap that held him, 
and Avith a frantic leap he was off, the string trail- 
ing behind him; but his hind feet were still 
hampered by the tAvisting string, and he came to a 
sudden halt. 


143 


144 


A LITTLE MAID 


“ Poor Trit! Poor Trit! ” called the little girl 
pityingly, as she ran after him. J ust as she was 
near enough to touch him another bound carried 
him beyond her reach. On leaped the rabbit, 
and on followed Anna until they were some dis- 
tance below the mill and near the river’s sloping 
bank, over which the rabbit plunged and Anna 
after him. A small boat lay close to the shore, 
and Bunny’s plunge carried him directly into the 
boat, where, twisted in the string, he lay strug- 
gling and helpless. 

Anna climbed into the boat and picked up 
“ Trit,” as she called the rabbit, and patiently 
and tenderly untied the string from the fright- 
ened, panting little captive, talking gently as she 
did so, until he lay quiet in her hands. 

The little girl was so wholly absorbed in her 
task that she did not notice that the boat was not 
fastened, or that her spring into it had sent it 
clear from the shore. Not until Trit was free 
from the string did she look up, and then the 
little boat was several feet from the shore, and 
moving rapidly down-stream. 

If Anna had stepped overboard then she could 
easily have waded ashore and made her way back 
to the mill; but she was so surprised that such a 


OF OLD MAINE 


145 


course did not come into her thoughts, and in a 
few moments the boat was in deep water and 
moving with the current down-stream. 

On each side of the river the woods grew down 
to the shore, and now and then the wide branehes 
of overhanging trees stretched for some distance 
over the stream. A blue heron rose from the 
river, making its loud call that drowned Anna’s 
voice as she cried; “Father! Father!” Even 
had Mr. Weston been near at hand he could 
hardly have distinguished Anna’s voice. But 
Anna was now too far down-stream for any call 
to reach her father or Rebby and Paul, who were 
all anxiously searching for her. 

At first the little girl was not at all frightened. 
The river ran to Machias, and, had it not been 
that she was sure her father and sister would be 
worried and sadly troubled by her disappearance, 
Anna would have thought it a fine adventure to 
go sailing down the stream with her captured 
rabbit. Even as it was, she had a gleeful thought 
of Luretta’s surprise and of Melvina’s admiration 
when she should tell them the story. 

She soon discovered that the boat leaked, and, 
holding the rabbit tightly in one hand, she took 
off her round cap and began to bail out the water, 


146 


A LITTLE MAW 

which had now risen to her ankles. Very soon 
the little cap was soggy and dripping; and now 
Anna began to wonder how long the leaky little 
craft could keep afloat. 

Both Anna and Rebby could swim; their father* 
had taught them when they were very little girls, 
and Anna knew that if she would leave the rabbit 
to drown that she could reach the shore safely; 
but this seemed hardly to be thought of. She 
now resolved to clutch at the first branch within 
reach, hoping in that way to scramble to safety 
with Trit. But the boat was being carried stead- 
ily along by the current, although the water came 
in constantly about her feet. 

“ I mustn’t get frightened,” Anna said aloud, 
remembering how often her father had told her 
that to be afraid was to lose the battle. 

The boat swayed a little, and then Anna found 
that the board seat was wabbling. 

“ I never thought of the seat,” she whispered, 
slipping down to her knees and pulling the seat 
from the loose support on which it rested. It 
was hard work to use the board as a paddle with 
only one hand, but Anna was strong and resolute, 
and managed to swing the boat a little toward the 
shore, so when a turn of the river came, bringing 


OF OLD MAINE 


147 


the boat close toward a little point of land, she 
quickly realized that this was her opportunity, 
and holding Trit close she sprang into the shal- 
low water and in a moment was safe on 
shore. 

The old boat, now half-filled with water, moved 
slowly on, and Anna knew that it would not be 
long afloat. She looked about her landing-place 
with wondering eyes. Behind the little grassy 
point where she stood the forest stretched close 
and dark; the curve of the river shut away the 
course by which she had come, but she could look 
down the smooth flowing current, and toward the 
wooded shores opposite. 

The rabbit moved uneasily in her hands, and 
the little girl smoothed him tenderly. “ I don’t 
know who will ever find me here, unless it should 
be Indians,” she said aloud, remembering the 
canoe that she and Rebby had noticed as they sat 
on the big rock. 

Anna felt a little choking feeling in her throat 
at the remembrance. It seemed so long ago 
since she had seen Rebby and her father. “And 
it’s all your fault, Trit,” she told the rabbit; “ but 
you could not help it,” she added quickly, and re- 
membered that the rabbit must be hungry and 


US A LITTLE MAID 

thirsty, and for a little while busied herself in 
finding tender leaves and buds for Trit to eat, 
and in holding him close to the water’s edge so 
that he could drink. Then she wandered about 
the little clearing and to the edge of the dark 
forest. She began to feel hungry, and knew by 
the sun that it was well past noon. 

“Oh! If that Indian we saw in the canoe 
would only come down-stream,” she thought 
longingly. For Anna well knew that when night 
came she would be in danger from the wild beasts 
of the wilderness, but that almost any of the In- 
dians who fished and himted in that region would 
take her safely back to her home. 

An hour or two dragged slowly by; Anna was 
very tired. She held Trit close, and sat down 
not far from the river’s edge. “ Father will find 
me some way,” she said to herself over and over, 
and tried not to let thoughts of fear and loneli- 
ness find a place in her mind. The little wild 
rabbit was no longer afraid of its captor, and 
Anna was sure that it was sorry it had led her 
into such trouble. But now and then tears came 
to the little girl’s eyes, when suddenly she heard a 
voice from the river just above the curve singing 
a familiar air: 


OF OLD MAINE 


149 


Success to fair America, — 

To courage to be free, 

Success to fair America, 

Success to Liberty. ^ ’ 

“Oh I That is Paul! That is Paul!’’ cried 
Anna, jumping up and down with joy; and the 
next moment a canoe swung round the curve, 
paddled by a tall boy with a cap ornamented by 
tall feathers. 

Paul nearly dropped his paddle as he saw 
Anna at the river’s edge. 

“ However did you get here? ” he exclaimed, 
as with a swift stroke of his paddle he sent his 
canoe to shore. 

Anna told him quickly of the capture of Trit, 
the leaking boat, and her jump to safety, while 
Paul listened with astonished eyes, and, in his 
turn, told of the discovery of the honey-tree, and 
then of the search for Anna. 

“ Your father and Rebby are sadly fright- 
ened,” he concluded; “ they are well on the way 
home now, thinking possibly you might have fol- 
lowed the path. Now, get in the canoe, and I’ll 
try my best to get you home by the time they 
reach the settlement.” 

Anna sat in the bottom of the canoe, and Paul 


150 


A LITTLE MAID 


skilfully wielded the paddle, sending the little 
craft swiftly down the river. 

“ That bucket is full of honey,” he said, nod- 
ding toward the bow of the canoe. But Anna 
was not greatly interested in the honey; she had 
even forgotten that she was hungry and thirsty. 
She could think only of her father and Rebby 
searching along the path for some trace of her. 

It was late in the afternoon when the canoe 
swept across the river to the same landing where 
Paul had fastened the liberty tree earlier in the 
month. And in a few moments Anna was run- 
ning up the path toward home, followed by Paul 
with the bucket of honey. 

“ Why, child! Where are Father and Rebby? 
and where is your cap? ” questioned Mrs. Wes- 
ton. 

“Oh, Mother!” began Anna, but now the 
tears could not be kept back, and held close in her 
mother’s arms she sobbed out the story of the 
capture of Trit, and all that had followed. And 
then Paul told the story of the honey-tree, and 
his story was not finished when Anna exclaimed: 
“ Father! Rebby! ” and ran toward the door. 

How Mr. Weston’s face brightened when he 
saw Danna safe and sound, and how closely 


OF OLD MAINE 


151 


Rebby held her little sister, as Anna again told 
the story of her journey down the river. 

When Paul started for home Mrs. Weston in- 
sisted that a generous portion of the bucket of 
honey should go with him ; and Trit, safely fast- 
ened in a small basket, was sent to Luretta as a 
gift from Anna. He promised to be ready the 
next morning to return to the falls with Mr. 
Weston in the canoe to bring home the store of 
honey. 

As the Westons gathered about the table for 
their evening meal they looked at each other with 
happy faces. 

“ I couldn’t feel happier if the Polly were in 
port, and America triumphant over her enemies,” 
declared Mr. Weston, as he helped Anna to a 
liberal portion of honey. 


CHAPTER XIV 


AN UNINVITED GUEST 

Paul and Mr. Weston started off at an early 
hour the next morning in Paul’s canoe to bring 
home the honey. Beside a tub they took with 
them a number of buckets, for the old stump had 
a rich store of honey. 

It was a time of leisure for the lumbering set- 
tlement. The drives of logs had all come down 
the river and were safely in the booms. The 
mills could not run as usual, for the conflict with 
England made it difficult to send lumber to Bos- 
ton. The crops were now planted, so Mr. Wes- 
ton, like other men of the settlement, had time for 
hunting and fishing or for improving their simple 
homes. Some of the men passed a good part of 
each day lounging around the shores and wharves, 
looking anxiously down the harbor hoping to see 
Captain Jones’ sloops returning with the greatly 
needed provisions. 

Rebecca was up in season to see her father 
152 


OF OLD MAINE 153 

start, but Anna, tired from the adventure of the 
previous day, had not awakened. 

“ Is the liberty tree safe? ” Rebby asked a little 
anxiously, as she helped her mother about the 
household work that morning. 

“ Why, Rebby dear, what harm could befall 
it? ” questioned her mother. “ The traitor who 
set it afloat will not dare cut it down. ’Tis a 
strange thing that, search though they may, no 
trace can be found of the rascals.” 

Rebecca’s hands trembled, and she dared not 
look up. It seemed to the little girl that if her 
mother should look into her eyes she would at 
once know that she, Rebecca Flora Weston, who 
had been born in Boston, and whose parents were 
loyal Americans, had committed the dreadful 
deed. She wished with all her heart that she 
could tell her mother all that Lucia Horton had 
said; but the promise bound her. She could 
never tell anyone. Rebecca knew that she could 
never be happy again. “Not unless I could do 
some fine thing to help America,” she thought, a 
little hopelessly; for what could a little girl, in a 
settlement far away from all the strife, do to help 
the great cause for which unselfish men were sac- 
rificing everything? 


154 


A LITTLE MAID 


Mrs. Weston was troubled about Rebecca. 
“ The child has not really been well since her 
birthday,” she thought, “ although I cannot think 
what the trouble can be.” 

“ Your father says that the honey is really 
yours, Rebby dear,” continued Mrs. Weston, 
“ and that you may decide how it shall be dis- 
posed of.” 

“ I don’t care,” Rebby responded, a little 
faintly. “ Only, of course, Paul ought to have 
half, because he helped.” 

“Yes, of course; but even then your share will 
be a good quantity,” said Mrs. Weston. Before 
Rebecca could speak Anna came running into the 
room, her brown eyes shining, and her curls, now 
long enough to dance about her face, falling over 
her brown cheeks. 

As she ate her porridge her mother questioned 
her about the adventure of the previous day, and 
for a time Rebby forgot her own worries in lis- 
tening to Anna’s account of her journey in the 
leaking boat, and of her leap to safety. 

“ It was not mischief, was it, Mother, to try 
and capture Trit? ” she concluded. 

“ No, indeed, dear child. Who could foresee 
such an adventure? ” replied Mrs. Weston. 


OF OLD MAINE 


155 


“And we are all proud that you did so well; that 
you did not wander into the forest, where you 
would surely have been lost. I was just asking 
Rebby what use we would make of the honey. 
Of course we want to share it with our neighbors. 
’Tis rare good fortune to have such a store of 
sweets.” 

“ Let’s have a honey party,” suggested Anna. 
“ Could we not. Mother? ” 

“ Why, that is a splendid idea! ” declared Mrs. 
Weston. “ ’Twill cheer up the whole settlement 
to be asked to a party. To be sure I can offer 
them only honey; but perhaps ’twill take their 
minds from the Polly, and from England’s in- 
justice toward us. Rebecca, you and Anna shall 
start out at once and ask the neighbors as far as 
Mr. Lyon’s house. That will bring as many as 
twenty people. And tell each one to bring a cup 
and spoon, as I have no extra dishes.” 

As soon as Aoina had finished her breakfast the 
two girls put on their sunbonnets and started on 
their pleasant errand. The neighbors were to be 
asked to come the next afternoon for a taste of 
wild honey, and Mrs. Weston again cautioned 
them to be sure and speak of the cup and spoon 
that each guest was to bring. 


156 


A LITTLE MAID 


“ I wish I could offer them a dish of tea,” 
thought Mrs. Weston, and then reproached her- 
self for the thought, for was not the tea tax one 
of England’s sins against the colonies, and had 
not loyal women refused to brew a single cup 
until America gained her rights? 

Mr. Foster was busy in his blacksmith shop. 
The mill men could be idle, but Worden Foster 
hammered busily away day in and day out. His 
hay-forks were always in demand, and he made 
many stout locks and keys, as well as door-latches 
and hooks. 

“ Shall we ask him first? ” questioned Anna. 

“ Yes,” replied Rebecca. “ He is our best 
neighbor, so ’tis right to ask him first.” 

Rebecca and Anna stood in the open doorway 
for a moment watching the glow of the forge and 
the bright sparks that sprang from the red bar of 
iron which Mr. Foster was shaping into a spear- 
head. 

He nodded toward his little visitors smilingly, 
and listened with evident pleasure to Rebecca’s 
invitation. 

‘‘ But you tell me Paul is to have a good por- 
tion of the honey; ’tis hardly fair we Fosters 
should come,” he replied, and then added 


OF OLD MAINE 


157 


quickly, “ But why not let us have the neighbors, 
and divide the honey that is left after the party? ” 

“Why, yes, sir; I think that will be a good 
plan,” responded Rebby soberly, “ and perhaps 
Luretta will go with us to ask the neighbors.” 

Mr. Foster nodded again, whistling softly to 
himself, and as the little girls bade him a polite 
“ Good-morning ” and went on toward his house 
they could hear his whistle ring above the sound 
of his hammer. 

Luretta came running to meet them. 

“ I was just coming to your house to thank you 
for Trit. Oh, Anna! You are the bravest girl 
in the settlement. Paul says you are. And to 
think you caught the rabbit for me.” Luretta, 
quite out of breath, with her arm across Anna’s 
shoulders, looked admiringly at her friend. 

“ It’s only fair,” Anna replied, “ because I lost 
yours.” And then Anna had to tell again the 
story of her capture of Trit. Luretta listened 
eagerly. “ I do wish I could have been with you, 
Danna,” she said. But Anna shook her head. 

The[ boat would have sunk,” she responded 
soberly. 

Mrs. Foster thought the plan for a honey 
party an excellent idea, and promised to come in 


158 


A LITTLE MAID 


good season; and Luretta was greatly pleased to 
go with her friends to invite the neighbors. 

“ Will not Lucia Horton be pleased when we 
tell her about the honey? ” said Anna. 

Rebecca stopped suddenly. “We are not to 
ask the Hortons,” she announced. 

“Not ask Lucia! Why not?” questioned 
Anna, while Luretta looked at Rebby with won- 
dering eyes. 

“ No,” Rebecca declared firmly. “ The Hor- 
tons have a cux3board filled with jellies, and can- 
died fruits, and jars of syrups, and fine things 
from the West Indies and from far places, and 
’tis not fair. We have only the wild bees’ honey, 
a taste for each neighbor.” Rebecca stopped 
with a little sigh. She had not thought about not 
asking Lucia until Anna spoke, but now she real- 
ized that, if she could help it, she would never 
again go to the Hortons’ house. Rebecca was 
old enough to realize the difference between loy- 
alty and selfish indecision, and she was sure that 
the Hortons were thinking more of their own 
comfort than of the good of America. 

“ But Lucia is your best friend,” said Anna; 
“ she gave you those beautiful silk mitts on your 
birthday.” 


OF OLD MAINE 


159 


Rebecca’s face colored. She made no answer. 
The silk mitts, she resolved, must be given back. 
Probably she would never have another pair; but 
never mind, if she gave up Lucia’s friendship she 
must give up the mitts. 

For a few minutes the little girls walked on in 
silence, but Luretta was eager to talk about Trit, 
and very soon she and Anna were talking happily 
of plans to teach the captured rabbit, and were 
no longer troubled by Rebecca’s decision not to 
ask the Hortons to the honey party. If they 
thought of it at all it was to agree with Rebby: 
that people with a cupboard full of dainties, when 
their neighbors had only the coarsest fare, ought 
not to be asked to share the wild honey. 

Mrs. Lyon welcomed the little girls in a most 
friendly manner, and Anna was made happy 
when the minister’s wife said that she really be- 
lieved that Anna’s stitches were as tiny and as 
neatly set as those of Melvina herself. 

“ Melvina is out-of-doors,” she continued; “ I 
have decided that she is much stronger to be in 
the open air a portion of each day, and London 
has made her a playhouse under the pines behind 
the house.” 

Both Anna and Luretta hoped that Mrs. Lyon 


160 


A LITTLE MAID 


would ask them to go and see Melvina’s play- 
house, but as she did not they said their polite 
“ Good-day, Mrs. Lyon,” curtsied, and followed 
Rebecca down the path. 

The invitations had now all been given and ac- 
cepted, and Luretta was eager to get home, urg- 
ing Anna to stop and see Trit, who was safe in 
the same box that had been made for the other 
rabbits. 

“ You may both run ahead if you wish,” said 
Rebby with quite a grown-up manner, for she 
really felt a great deal older than her little sister, 
“ and I will go straight home and tell Mother 
that everybody is coming.” 

“ Everybody except the Hortons,” Luretta 
reminded her. 

“ Yes; I meant everyone whom we had asked,” 
Rebby rejoined. 

Off ran the two younger girls, and Rebecca 
followed more slowly. Although she had in- 
tended to go directly home she now decided to 
take the path along the bluff and see for herself 
that the liberty tree stood safe, defiant of all 
enemies. Rebby’s thoughts were filled with a 
certain fear that Lucia Llorton might contrive 
some new plan to make away with this emblem 


OF OLD MAINE 


161 


of freedom; and she gave an exclamation of satis- 
faction as she saw the handsome young pine, well 
braced with rocks and timber supports, standing 
on the bluff. 

“ The Polly will see it first thing when she 
comes into harbor,” thought Rebby, “ and no- 
body will dare fire on it,” and vaguely com- 
forted by this thought she started on toward 
home. 

Mr. Weston and Paul were just landing their 
load of honey, and Rebecca went down to the 
shore to tell them of the plan for the honey party, 
of which they both approved. The tubs and 
buckets were all carried to the Westons’ and 
safely stored away in the big pantry. 

Mrs. Foster and INIrs. Weston were talking 
over arrangements for the next day. Mrs. Fos- 
ter had suggested that they should each bake a 
quantity of “ spider-cakes.” “ They are thin 
and crispy, and will relish well with the honey,” 
she said, and Mrs. Weston agreed, although both 
the women realized that by making these cakes 
they would diminish their household stores of 
Indian meal almost to the danger point. But 
the Polly, with her cargo of wheat flour, sugar, 
and other necessities, was long overdue; she must 


162 


A LITTLE MAID 

soon come to their relief, they thought hopefully ; 
and if she failed to arrive why then they must do 
their best. 

“ The neighbors need something cheerful to 
think of,” declared Mrs. Foster, “ and I am sure 
a taste of honey will cheer us all.” 

The next day was clear and warm with a pleas- 
ant southerly wind. IMr. Weston decided to put 
up some seats under the tall elms, so that the 
guests could enjoy the spring air. Paul was 
quite ready to help him; they brought planks 
from the lumber yard, and long before the first 
visitor arrived the low comfortable seats were 
ready. 

Anna and Rebby were busy all the morning 
making small plates of birch-bark, which they 
stripped from the big logs. These little plates 
would each hold a square of “ spider-cake ” and 
a helping of honey ; and as the guests would bring 
their own cups, to be filled with clear spring 
water, and their own spoons, the Westons felt 
that all was ready. 

Rebby and Anna both wore their Sunday best, 
but their dresses were carefully covered by their 
long pinafores. For they would serve each 
guest, and it would not do that any careless move- 


OF OLD MAINE 


163 


ment should send a stream of honey over their 
best gowns. Luretta and Melvina would also 
help, and had been warned to bring pinafores to 
wear. 

There was a pleasant air of excitement all 
through the little settlement as the people, 
dressed in their simple best, walked along the 
path leading to the Westons’. The minister and 
his wife, each holding Melvina by the hand, were 
among the first comers. 

“It was a friendly thought to ask your neigh- 
bors to share your good fortune,” said Mr. Lyon 
as he greeted Mrs. Weston. 

“ To tell the truth, ’twas Anna who first 
thought of it,” she responded, and was well 
pleased when Mrs. Lyon declared that she was 
not surprised to hear it, as she considered Anna 
a very thoughtful and generous child. 

Rebecca had forgotten for the time her own 
sense of unworthiness, and was smiling happily 
as friend after friend arrived, when suddenly her 
smile vanished. For coming up the path in a 
fine dress of pale yellow muslin and wearing a 
flower-trimmed hat was Lucia Horton. No one 
but Rebecca, of course, was surprised to see 
Lucia. It was to be expected that she would be 


164 


A LITTLE MAID 


a guest at Rebecca’s house. Anna and Luretta 
did not see Lucia’s arrival, but Rebby stood quite 
still, pale and angry, and watched Lucia smiling 
and sx)eaking to the neighbors. Then Lucia 
came straight toward Rebecca, and, making an 
ugly face at her, exclaimed: 

“ Who is afraid of you, anyway, Rebecca Flora 
Weston? ” 


CHAPTER XV 


REBBY AND LUCIA 

Rebby was too astonished at Lucia’s unex- 
pected appearance to make any response to this 
rude salutation; and, with another scornful 
glance, Lucia went on her way to where Mrs. 
Lyon and Mrs. Weston were talking together, 
and took a seat beside them, and was cordially 
welcomed by Rebecca’s mother, who, of course, 
knew nothing of the trouble between the two 
girls. 

“ Lucia has forgotten her cup and spoon, 
Rebby; bring her your lustre mug,” called Mrs. 
Weston. 

For a moment Rebby pretended not to hear. 
She was filling the cups with cool spring water, 
and not until her mother called the second time 
did she start toward the house for her cherished 
lustre mug. She was ready to cry at the thought 
of Lucia’s insulting words, and now she must 
carry the pretty mug to her, and serve her as 
though she were a welcome guest. 

165 


166 


A LITTLE MAID 


“ I won’t let her know that I care; and I must 
be polite because she is a guest, even if she wasn’t 
invited,” thought Rebby, as carrying the lustre 
mug and a birch-bark plate with a square of 
honeycomb and a brownish crisp “ spider-cake ” 
she went toward Lucia. 

Neither of the little girls spoke, and Rebby did 
not look at her former friend who had led her into 
such sad mischief. Then suddenly there was a 
crash, a loud cry from Lucia and from Rebby as 
the lustre mug fell to the ground, and the con- 
tents of the frail plate streamed over the delicate 
yellow muslin of Lucia’s fine dress. 

“ Oh! She has spoiled my dress! She did it 
on purpose ! She did ! She did ! ” wailed Lucia, 
while Rebecca stood looking at the pieces of her 
cherished mug that had been brought from Bos- 
ton when the Westons moved to Machias. 

“ She dropped it on purpose,” Rebby said, but 
no one seemed to think of her mug. Mrs. Lyon 
and Mrs. Weston were both endeavoring to com- 
fort Lucia, and to repair the harm done to the 
yellow muslin. But the honey and water were 
not easily removed from the delicate fabric. 

“ I am going home. It’s a cheap, foolish party 
anj^way. Honey and water, and corn-bread ! ” 


OF OLD MAINE 


167 


sobbed Lucia angrily, pulling away from the 
friendly women, and running down the path. 

Mrs. Lyon and Mrs. Weston looked after her 
in amazed disapproval. 

“ I begin to think there is something in the ru- 
mors that Captain Horton and his wife are not 
trustworthy,” Mrs. Lyon said. “ The child is so 
ill-bred she can be but indulged and spoiled at 
home,” and Mrs. Weston agreed. But neither 
of them imagined that Lucia’s mother and father 
were disloyal to the American cause, and only 
waiting a profitable opportunity to betray the 
little settlement to its enemies. 

Lucia’s angry words cast but a brief shadow 
over the gathering, and no one noticed that Re- 
becca had disappeared. At the moment Lucia 
started for home Rebby had run toward the 
house. She hurried up the stairs to the little 
room under the roof where she and Anna slept, 
and from the closet she drew out the square 
wooden box that her father had made for her. 
Her initials R. F. W. were carved inside a 
small square on the cover, and it had a lock and 
key. Rebby was very proud of this box, and in 
it she kept her most treasured possessions: a 
handkerchief of fine lawn with a lace edge, a pin 


168 


A LITTLE MAID 


made from a silver sixpence, and the prayer-book 
her Grandmother Weston had given her. When 
Lucia gave her the silk mitts for a birthday pres- 
ent Rebby had put them carefully away with 
these other treasures. Now she pulled them out 
hurriedly, and, without waiting to close the box, 
she ran down the stairs through the kitchen, 
keeping carefully out of sight of the group under 
the elm trees, until she could not be seen from the 
house. Then she caught a glimpse of Lucia’s 
yellow dress, and ran faster than before. But 
she did not call Lucia’s name. She said to her- 
self that she would never speak to Lucia again. 

Hearing the hurrying steps behind her Lucia 
looked over her shoulder, and seeing Rebby she 
became frightened and ran faster than ever. 
Lucia did not know why she was afraid, but she 
remembered that she had not been asked to the 
party, that she had spoken insultingly to Rebby, 
and — she had dropped the mug purposely. So 
it was small wonder that her guilty conscience 
accused her, and that she was eager to reach home 
before Rebby could overtake her. 

On raced the two girls along the narrow path. 
A few men at the wharves watched the flying 
figures, but no one imagined it more than a game. 


OF OLD MAINE 


169 


Very soon the Horton house was in sight. Its 
front door opening on the street stood open to 
admit the pleasant spring air. In a moment 
Lucia was in the house and had slammed and 
fastened the door behind her. 

Rebby stood on the step breathless, the silk 
mitts clasped in her hand. After a moment she 
rapxDed loudly on the door. There was no re- 
sponse. But in a moment an upper window 
ojDened, and Mrs. Horton looked down at Rebby. 

“ Why, Rebecca Flora ! ” she exclaimed in her 
pleasant voice. “ Lucia has gone to your party.’’ 

“ If you please, Mrs. Horton, I have brought 
back the mitts Lucia gave me for a birthday 
present,” responded Rebby, her voipe faltering a 
little. 

“ Oh! Don’t they fit? Why, that is a shame. 
Well, lay them on the step,” said Mrs. Horton, 
wondering why Rebby should look so flushed and 
warm, and why she had not given the mitts to 
Lucia. Later on, when she heard Lucia’s ac- 
count of Rebby’s turning honey and water over 
the pretty 3"ellow muslin, she decided that Re- 
becca was ashamed to keep a gift after treating 
Lucia so badly. 

Rebby went slowly toward home tired and un- 


170 


A LITTLE MAID 


happy. All the pleasure of the party, she said to 
herself, was spoiled. She was not sorry to give 
up the mitts, for everything that reminded her of 
Lucia made her think of the night when they 
had pushed the liberty tree from its moorings. 

When she was nearly home she heard INIr. 
Foster’s whistle and in a moment they were face 
to face. 

“ Well, Rebecca Flora, ’twas a fine party,” 
he said smilingly, for ]Mr. Foster had not seen 
the accident to the mug. “ The neighbors are 
all smiling and cheerful, and we are all the better 
for meeting in this neighborly fashion,” and Mr. 
Foster ended his sentence with a whistle like a 
bird’s note. “ You must come with the others 
to the liberty pole on Sabbath morning,” he 
added. “ Parson Lyon is to preach to us there, 
and ’twill be a great occasion.” 

“Yes, sir,” Rebby responded, and went slowly 
on up the slope. It began to seem to her that 
she would never escape from the liberty pole. 
And now she met Mr. and Mrs. Lyon, with 
Melvina dancing along in front of them. “ More 
like Danna than Danna is like herself,” thought 
Rebby, smiling, as she remembered how sedately 
and quietly Melvina had walked before Danna 


OF OLD MAINE 


171 


and Luretta had played their misehievous pranks 
on the day of the tempest. 

The neighbors had all gone when Rebecca 
reached home, and Mrs. Weston and Anna were 
in the house, while Mr. Weston and Paul were 
taking up the seats under the elm trees. The 
pieces of the broken lustre mug lay on the kitchen 
table, and Rebby’s face clouded as she stood look- 
ing at them. 

“ Lucia Horton dropped it on purpose! ” she 
said. “ I know she did.” 

‘‘And nobody asked her to come to our party,” 
added Anna; “ ’twas rude of her to come.” 

Mrs. Weston looked in astonishment at her 
two little daughters. 

“ Not ask Lucia? ” she questioned, and listened 
to Rebby’s explanation: that, because of the 
Hortons’ store of dainties, and their scorn of the 
simple fare of their neighbors, Rebby had decided 
not to ask Lucia to her party. 

But when the little girl had finished her 
story, Mrs. Weston shook her head disapprov- 
ingly. 

“ I am not pleased with you, Rebecca,” she 
said. “ ’Twas not a kind thought to sit in judg- 
ment and decide to punish a friend for something 


172 


A LITTLE MAID 


that is no fault of hers. Lucia did right to coiiiei 
Of course she thought you would welcome 
her.” 

“ She didn’t! She didn’t! ” exclaimed Rebby. 
“ She made up faces at me, and said ” 

“ Never mind, Rebecca. You see what comes 
from quarreling. Your mug is broken, Lucia’s 
dress is spoiled, and you had no pleasure from 
the afternoon. Now, there is something for you 
to do to put this straight. You must take off 
your pinafore, put on your sunbonnet, and go 
straight to Mi's. Horton’s and ask Lucia’s par- 
don.” 

“ Oh, Mother! ” wailed Rebby. “ It isn’t fair. 
It isn’t my fault.” 

But Mrs. Weston was firm. From Rebby’s 
own story her mother decided that she had been 
unfair to Lucia; she did not ask if Rebby had 
purposely spilled the honey on Lucia’s muslin 
dress, but she felt it was not the time to allow 
any ill feeling among the families of the settle- 
ment, and that Rebecca’s failure to ask the Hor- 
tons to come with the other neighbors to taste the 
wild honey could easily offend them. 

Anna stood looking first at Rebby and then 
at her mother. It was so seldom that Rebby 


OF OLD MAINE 


173 


cried, that it seemed a very dreadful thing to her 
younger sister. 

“I’ll go, Mother, let me go!” she asked 
eagerly. 

“ Do not be so foolish, Anna,” responded Mrs. 
W eston. “ This is your sister’s duty. It has 
nothing to do with you. Take off your pinafore, 
Rebecca, and do as I bid you.” 

Rebecca was sobbing bitterly. She could not 
believe that her mother really meant that she 
should go and ask Lucia Horton’s forgiveness. 

“ If you loiew ” she began, tempted to tell 

her mother all that Lucia had said about the lib- 
erty pole, and even what they had done to prevent 
its erection. But the memory of her promise 
held her. She knew that her mother expected 
obedience, and she took off her pinafore, took her 
sunbonnet, and, still sobbing, went slowly from 
the room. Anna started to follow her, but Mrs. 
Weston called her back sharply. 

“Anna, you are not to go with your sister,” 
she said, and the little girl came slowly back. 

“ Oh, dear,” she sighed, “ I wish Lucia Horton 
would go sailing off to far lands. To — to 
Egypt,” she concluded. For Anna had never 
heard much that was pleasant about Egypt, 


174 A LITTLE MAID 

and was sure that all this trouble was Lucia’s 
fault. 

Rebecca had never been so unhappy in her 
life as when she realized that her mother ex- 
pected her to go to the Hortons’ and ask Lucia’s 
pardon for not inviting Mrs. Horton and Lucia 
to the honey party. There were robins singing 
in the trees, bluebirds flitting about with gay 
little notes, and the spring day was full of beauty, 
but Rebby was not conscious of it as she went 
slowly along the path. 

Very soon she was again standing in front of 
the Hortons’ door, and summoning all her cour- 
age she rapped loudly. There was no response, 
and after a few moments she rapped again; but 
the house seemed silent and deserted, and no one 
came to open the door. 

And now Rebecca did not know what to do. 
If she went home she knew that her mother would 
say that she must return at a later hour to fulfil 
her errand. So the little girl decided to sit down 
on the steps and wait for a time. 

Twilight was near at hand. The sun was low 
in the western sky, and a cool little breeze crept 
up from the river and stirred the tree-tops. 
Shadows gathered about the house, and still there 



A MAN CAME AROUND THE CORNER OF THE HOUSE 





OF OLD MAINE 


175 


was no sign or sound of the Hortons, and Rebby 
was about to start for home when a man came 
around the corner of the house and spoke to her. 

He was evidently a sailor, and in a great hurry. 
He asked no questions but began speaking as if 
he had no time to lose. 

“ Tell your mother that the Polly and Unity 
will come into harbor to-morrow, and that Cap- 
tain Jones is on board the Unity, There’s a 
British gunboat along with them, and your father 
says there may be trouble, and for you and your 
mother to keep close indoors until he comes/’ 
The sailor started to move off, but Rebby 
found courage to ask: 

“ Where — where are the sloops now? ” 
“Anchored below Round Island; but we’ll be 
sailing in with morning tide. The Captain bade 
me keep well out of sight and come straight back 
to the sloop. Be sure you tell your mother,” re- 
sponded the man, speaking in such low tones that 
Rebby had to listen sharply to understand. 

“ Yes, I’ll tell my mother,” she replied, and 
without a moment’s hesitation she started for 
home as fast as her feet could carry her. She 
had entirely forgotten her anger toward Lucia, 
or her mother’s reproof. All she could think of 


176 


A LITTLE MAID 


was the news this sailor, evidently a member of 
the Polly's crew, had told her, believing that he 
was sx)eaking to Lucia Horton. 

And noAV Rebecca recalled all that Lucia had 
told her of what might befall the little village if 
a British gunboat sailed into harbor and saw a 
liberty tree flaunting its courageous defiance to 
injustice. But now she could tell her father, not 
Lucia’s secret, but what the sailor had told her. 

“And Father will know what to do. Father 
and Mr. Lyon,” she thought breathlessly, as she 
ran swiftly up the path and burst into the kitchen, 
where her father and mother and Anna were 
waiting her return. 

She told her story quickly, and without any 
mention of what Lucia had confided in her weeks 
before. “ The sailor thought I was Captain 
Horton’s little girl,” she concluded. 

Mr. Weston questioned Rebby carefully, and 
then said: 

“ I’ll take this news to Captain O’Brien and to 
Parson Lyon ; but say nothing about it to anyone 
until we see what news the Polly brings.” And 
he hurried away to prepare his neighbors for pos- 
sible danger. 

“ You see, Rebby, your obedience may have 


177 


OF OLD MAINE 

saved the settlement,” said Mrs. Weston, putting 
her arm about Rebecca. 

“ But I had not seen Lucia, Mother. I was 
waiting for her,” said Rebecca. 

Mrs. Weston made no answer; her thoughts 
were too full of the possible dangers to the settle- 
ment from the British gunboat to think much of 
the postponed apology; nor was the matter ever 
again mentioned. 

“ Now, Rebby, you really have done something 
for America,” declared Anna, as the sisters went 
up to their room that night. But Rebby shook 
her head. 

No, Danna, I haven’t. But j)erhaps I can 
sometime, and you too,” she replied. For some 
reason, that Rebby could not explain even to her- 
self, her thoughts centered around what her 
father had said on their trip to the Falls of the 
store of powder and shot at Chandler’s River 
settlement. She had heard her father say that 
Machias was but ill provided with munitions ; and 
with a British gunboat coming into harbor the 
next day who could tell how quickly powder and 
shot might be needed? 


CHAPTER XVI 


EEBBY DECIDES 

The next morning dawned bright and tran- 
quil. The fragrance of pine woods and broad 
meadows filled the air, and practically all the in- 
habitants of Machias gathered about the wharves 
to watch for the Polly and Unity to come sailing 
into harbor. 

The provisions the sloops were bringing were 
greatly needed; but when Mr. Weston had told 
the men of the settlement that the sloops were 
being convoyed by a British war vessel their 
alarm and consternation can be imagined. Mrs. 
Horton and Lucia were about the only ones ab- 
sent from the wharf when, silently and without a 
cheer of welcome, the Polly and Unity, and the 
boat flying the hated English flag came to anchor. 

Captain Jones came ashore, greeting his old- 
time friends cordially, and explaining that the 
presence of the gunboat was only to protect him 
from attacks by British cruisers. But his ex- 
178 


OF OLD MAINE 


179 


planation was received in silence. The memory 
of the recent battle in Lexington was fresh in the 
people’s hearts, and much as they needed the pro- 
visions on the sloops they were ready to do with- 
out them unless Captains Horton and Jones 
could assure their fellow-townsmen of their 
loyalty and send the British gunboat from the 
harbor. 

Finally he received consent to land his goods, 
and commenced trading with the people as usual, 
while the Margaretta, the British gunboat, lay at 
anchor off White’s Point, some distance below 
the town. 

Mrs. Lyon received many packages from her 
Boston relatives, and there were two dolls for 
Melvina, the ones of which Luretta had spoken 
on the day when she and Anna had led Melvina 
to the shore to show her a “ clam’s nest.” 

Rebecca’s gold beads, intended for her birth- 
day, were safely delivered; and beside the beads 
was a j)air of silk mitts for both Rebby and Anna. 
To Rebby this seemed a very wonderful thing, 
and she felt it almost a reward for carrying back 
those Lucia had given her. 

Mrs. Horton now kept Lucia closely at home. 
Anna and Luretta were invited to spend an after- 


180 


A LITTLE MAID 


noon with Melvina, and become acquainted with 
the new dolls, and Melvina urged Luretta to 
bring Trit, resolving to dress up the rabbit as she 
and Anna had done before. 

Rebecca was more aware of the troubled con- 
dition of the settlement than were these younger 
girls. Paul Foster told her that his Uncle 
Benjamin, a bold and energetic man who had 
served in the old French War, said that the 
Machias men ought to capture the British gun- 
boat, and take the sloops, making their captains 
and crews prisoners. Rebby listened eagerly. 

“But we couldn’t capture them, Paul; I 
heard Father say there was but little powder and 
shot in the settlement,” she said. 

“ We’d get ’e^n,” declared Paul. “ If Jones 
and Horton think they are going to load up their 
sloops with lumber for British barracks in Boston 
they’ll see trouble.” 

“And Parson Lyon is not to preach at the 
liberty pole,” said Rebby a little thoughtfully. 

Paul made no response to this. He had come 
up to the Westons’ on an errand for his mother, 
and was now eager to get back to the wharves 
where the sloops were being unloaded. 

“ If the Britisher fires on our liberty pole 


OF OLD MAINE 


181 


they’ll hear a sermon all right,” he called back as 
he ran down the path. 

It was difficult for Rebby to attend to the sim- 
ple duties that her mother required of her* 
Whenever her father entered the house she 
watched his face anxiously, half-expecting him 
to say that the Machias men were ready to cap- 
ture the gunboat before it could attack the town. 
When Anna came home eager to describe Mel- 
vina’s new dolls, and to tell of dressing up Trit, 
and that London Atus, coming into the room 
where the little girls were playing and seeing the 
rabbit wearing a white skirt and bonnet, had 
turned and run out muttering something about 
“witches,” Rebby listened, but with little interest. 

“ Danna,” she said, as soon as the sisters were 
alone, “ do you suppose you and I could find the 
way to Chandler’s River? ” 

“ Of course we could,” Anna declared. 
“ Don’t you remember that Father showed us 
where the trail began, marked by ‘spotted’ 
trees? ” 

“Yes, I remember. Listen, Anna; there is 
hardly any powder or shot in Machias; if there 
were the men could protect the liberty pole.” 

“ Yes, yes,” Anna responded quickly. “ I 


182 


A LITTLE MAID 


heard Parson Lyon telling Captain O’Brien that 
all the men ought to be ready to defend the 
settlement.” 

“ Oh, Anna! There are quantities of powder 
stored at Chandler’s Mills. Why couldn’t we go 
after it? ” Rebby whispered. “ Then indeed we 
would be helping, and perhaps ’twould save the 
liberty pole.” 

‘‘ Would Father let us? ” Anna asked doubt- 
fully. 

“ Don’t you see? We must go after it with- 
out telling anyone; then when we bring it back 
the men can drive off or capture the gunboat,” 
Rebecca explained. 

“ I think Father ought to know,” persisted 
Anna, so that at last Rebby said no more, after 
Anna had promised not to repeat Rebby’s plan 
to anyone. 

But Rebby slept but little that night. If the 
gunboat fired on the town she felt it would be 
her fault for having kept Lucia’s secret to her- 
self ; and yet she dared not break a promise. In 
some way Rebby felt that she must do something 
to make right her foolish act in helping Lucia 
set the liberty tree adrift. 

The next day Captain Jones began his 


OF OLD MAINE 


183 


preparations to load the sloops with lumber for 
Boston, and the Machias men, doubtful of the 
Captain’s loyalty, determined that the sloops 
should not return to Boston. Rebby and Anna 
were in the lumber yard filling a basket with 
chips, when a number of men talking of this de- 
cision passed them. 

“ If we only had more powder and shot,” said 
one; “ but we cannot spare a single man to go to 
Chandler’s River after supplies.” 

“There, Anna!” exclaimed Rebby. “Did 
you hear what those men said? Do you not^see 
that we can help as much as a real soldier? We 
can go to Chandler’s River. We must.” 

“ Perhaps F ather would give us permission if 
we asked him,’^ Anna persisted. But Rebecca 
shook her head at this suggestion; she dared not 
risk the chance of a refusal. 

“ We ought to go at once,” she said earnestly. 
“ ’Twill be a long tramp, and the gunboat may 
come up the harbor and threaten the settlement 
any day. Do say you will go, Anna.” 

Rebby knew that Anna’s knowledge of the 
forest, her strength and courage, would be all 
that could enable her to undertake the task. 
Without Anna she feared that she might fail in 


184 A LITTLE MAID 

finding her way, and never reach Chandler’s 
River. 

“Think, Danna! The gunboat will shoot 
down our liberty pole ! Perhaps burn the church 
and our houses, and they may carry off our father 
a prisoner! ’Tis what they try to do whenever 
Americans resist; and if the Machias men have 
powder and shot they’ll not let the gunboat come 
near. And we can get the powder and save the 
settlement. Oh, Danna ” 

Rebby’s petition ended in a wail. 

And now Anna was as eager to start as Rebby 
herself. The thought of her father being taken 
a prisoner and that she and Rebby could prevent 
so great a misfortune made her no longer hesi- 
tate. 

“We will start to-morrow morning, early,” she 
said. “ We must make sure that our moccasins 
are in good shape, Rebby; and we must take 
some corn-bread, for ’twill be a good journey. 
How early can we start, Rebby? ” 

“ Before sunrise, surely,” responded Rebby, 
“ and I will write on a strip of birch-bark what 
we are going to do, and pin it to Father’s hat. 
Then they will not worry about us.” 

“ Worry! Whj^ Father will think it a brave 


OF OLD MAINE 185 

deed,” declared Anna. “ I wish we had started 
this morning.” 

That day seemed very long to the sisters. 
They made their preparations carefully for the 
next day’s journe}^ and at an early hour went to 
bed, so that they might awaken in good season. 

The next morning dawned clear. Before the 
sun was up Anna was wide awake, and at her 
whispered “ Rebby,” her sister’s eyes opened 
quickly, and they slipped quietly out of bed. In 
a few moments they were fully dressed for their 
tramp through the forest. Very cautiously they 
made their way down the stairs. The house was 
silent. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Weston heard the 
faintest sound to disturb their slumbers. 

On the piece of smooth birch-bark that Rebby 
had made ready on the previous day, with a bit of 
charcoal from the fireplace she wrote: 

“ Dear Mother and dear Father: Anna and I 
are going to Chandler’s River to bring home 
powder and shot for Machias men to use to save 
the settlement. We will be home to-morrow. 
Your loving Rebby and Danna.” 

They slipped this under the deerskin thong 
that was twisted about Mr. Weston’s hat, opened 
the kitchen door gently, and moved noiselessly 


186 


A LITTLE MAID 


along in the shadow of the house, then ran swiftly 
up the iDath, and in a short time were out of sight 
of the houses of the settlement. 

“ Now we must walk slowly for a time,” cau- 
tioned Anna, remembering her father’s warnings 
against hurrying at the beginning of a tramp. 
“We must go on steadily for a time, and rest 
before we begin to feel tired. That is the way 
Indians do, and Father says it is why they can 
travel day after day and not be exhausted.” 

Rebby looked at her little sister admiringly. 
In woodland lore she realized that Danna was 
much wiser than herself, and she was quite ready 
to be guided by her. 

When Mrs. Weston called the girls the next 
morning and received no response she was not 
greatly surprised, as they often slept a little later 
than their parents. “ The extra sleep will do 
them no harm,” she said smilingly, as she and 
Mr. Weston sat down to the breakfast table; 
therefore Rebby and Danna were well on their 
way before their father took his hat from its ac- 
customed place and discovered the strip of birch- 
bark with its surprising message. 

Mr. Weston read the note, and stood for a 
moment silent, thinking what could be done. 


OF OLD MAINE 


187 


His first impulse was to hasten after his girls and 
bring them safely home. Then came the thought 
of the peril of the settlement. At any moment 
he might be called upon to help in its defense. 
Every man would be needed. He recalled 
Damia’s strength and fearlessness, and her 
knowledge of the forest, and Rebby’s quiet good 
judgment. If there were dangers he believed 
his girls could meet them fearlessly. Then, too, 
what a blessing it would be to have them bring 
home a store of powder and shot. It would mean 
the salvation of the settlement. Mr. Weston 
began to feel very proud of his little daughters 
and to feel sure they would return safely. 

“ What is the trouble with your hat. Father? ” 
questioned his wife. “ You stand looking at it 
as if it had some message for you.” 

“ Indeed it has,” JNIr. Weston replied smil- 
ingly. “ It tells me that we have two of the 
bravest girls in America. Listen,” and he read 
Rebby’s note aloud. 

“ ’Tis a deed to make us. proud,” he said, “ and 
’twill give new courage to every man in the settle- 
ment to know that a supply of powder will be 
here to-morrow.” 

But it was a long and anxious day for Mrs. 


188 


A LITTLE MAID 


Weston. She knew the perils of the forest, and 
her thoughts centered about lurking bears that 
might spring out upon Rebby and Danna as they 
went through the wilderness. She endeavored 
to find comfort by remembering that their errand 
was for the cause of justice and freedom, and 
that a love stronger than her own was about 
them. 


CHAPTER XVII 


A PERILOUS JOURNEY 

Not until the girls reached the beginning of 
the forest trail, where their father had pointed 
out the dim path leading toward Chandler’s 
River, did they feel really sure that their father 
would not follow them. But as they stopped for 
a brief rest under the shadow of a wide-spreading 
beach tree Rebby said: 

“ Father could have overtaken us by this time, 
Danna, if he did not think it was right for us 
to go.” 

Danna agreed cheerfully, and now both the 
girls felt a new courage for this perilous un- 
dertaking that was sure to tax their strength to 
the utmost. The fact that their father had not 
hastened after them made them both realize how 
important it was that powder and shot should 
reach the Machias settlement as soon as pos- 
sible. 

The faint path soon disappeared entirely, and 
189 


190 


A LITTLE MAID 


had Rebby been alone she would not have known 
which way to turn. But Anna went on confi- 
dently, keeping a sharp outlook for the “ blazed ” 
trees of which her father had told her as marking 
the way toward Chandler’s River. 

They forced their way through dense masses of 
tangled underbrush, over fallen trees, and through 
the shadowy stretches of thickly growing pine. 
Now and then they came to some marshy stretch, 
which Anna would carefully avoid, for she re- 
membered how often her father had warned her 
of the dangers of such places, with their un- 
marked quicksands that would quickly swallow 
the heedless person who ventured upon them. 

Notwithstanding Anna’s caution in regard to 
resting frequently they pushed on steadily, with 
but one stop until the sound of water as it dashed 
over a rocky bed warned them that they were 
near Whitney ville Falls, and half-way to their 
destination. 

The sun was now directly overhead, and as 
they came out from the shade of the forest to the 
open space along the river’s bank Rebby sank 
down on the grass with a long breath of relief. 

“ I never was so tired in all my life,” she de- 
clared. 


OF OLD MAINE 


191 


‘‘We will take a good rest and eat our corn- 
bread,” responded Anna. “ I am sure the re- 
mainder of the way will not be so hard, because 
we can follow the river up to the settlement.” 

Rebby was too tired to reply. She stretched 
herself out on the warm grass and closed her 
eyes. 

“ Poor Rebby,” thought Danna, looking down 
at her elder sister and remembering that Rebecca 
had never enjoyed woodland tramps, and realiz- 
ing that this undertaking was much harder for 
her sister than for herself. 

“ She’s asleep,” Anna whispered to herself, 
with a little smile of satisfaction. “Now I will 
have a fine surprise for her when she awakes,” 
and the little girl tiptoed noiselessly back to the 
edge of the woods, where she had noticed a 
quantity of checkerberry leaves. There were 
many crimson berries still clinging to the vines, 
and Anna picked these carefully, using her cap 
for a basket, and gathering a quantity of the 
young checkerberry leaves. “ Rebby is sure to 
like these,” she thought happily. 

Anna’s sharp glance moved about quickly and 
finally rested near an old stump. 

“Partridge eggs!” she exclaimed joyfully, 


192 


A LITTLE MAID 


and in a moment she was beside the stump peer- 
ing down at a circle of small brownish eggs. She 
counted them, and before she had whispered 
“ twenty ! ” a whirring, scrambling noise close at 
hand told her that the partridge to whom the 
eggs belonged was close at hand. 

“ You won’t miss a few eggs. Mistress Par- 
tridge,” said Anna soberly, carefully selecting 
four from the outer edge of the circle, and then 
going softly away, that she might not unneces- 
sarily frighten the woodland bird. 

She now carried the cap with great care, as she 
looked about hoping to discover some sign of a 
woodland spring. She kept along at the edge of 
the woods, and very soon she heard the sound of 
a noisy little brook hurrying along to the river. 
It was not far up the river from the place where 
Rebby was so comfortably asleep, and Anna de- 
cided that it Avould be just the place for their 
noonday luncheon. 

She set the cap, with all its treasures, carefully 
under the shade of a tiny fir tree near the side 
of the brook and then ran back to awaken Rebby. 

“ Dinner is ready! ” she called gaily as she ran; 
and the sound of her voice made Rebecca sit up 
quickly, and exclaim: 


OF OLD MAINE 


193 


“ The British will shoot down our liberty 
pole ! ” r or her dreams had been of soldiers in 
red coats firing at the liberty pole, while Mr. 
Worden Foster, with a big pitchfork, tried to 
drive them away. 

“ It is a truly dinner, with eggs,” declared 
Anna happily, as she led the way back to the 
noisy little brook. 

The raw eggs tasted good to the hungry girls, 
and the good corn-bread and spicy berries and 
tender checkerberry leaves, with cool water to 
drink, made them both feel refreshed and rested, 
and ready for the remaining distance to 
Chandler’s River settlement. 

They crossed the little brook and went sturdily 
on. Now and then a partridge flew in front of 
them. Squirrels scolded and chattered among 
the tree tops, and once or twice a rabbit leaped 
out from behind some stump and ran ahead of 
them as if daring them to capture him. 

Both the girls well knew that there were larger 
and more dangerous animals in the forests. 
There were bears prowling somewhere in those 
dim shadowy woods, eating the young buds and 
leaves, and capturing such defenseless birds and 
rabbits as they could. Once or twice they heard 


194 


A LITTLE 3IAID 


some heavy creature crashing through the un- 
derbrush, and looked at each other with startled 
eyes; but no harm came near them, and by the 
middle of the afternoon they reached the first 
house of the settlement, and had told their 
errand. 

“ Every man in the settlement is on his way to 
Machias this very hour,” declared the friendly 
woman who had welcomed the girls with amazed 
admiration; and, when they told of the scarcity 
of powder and shot in Machias, had said that the 
men of Chandler’s River settlement had believed 
Machias well supplied with powder, and had 
taken but a small quantity with them. 

“ One of our fishermen brought news of the 
British gunboat, and our men started at once. 
They went by the lower trail,” explained the 
woman, as she stirred the hot porridge she was 
cooking for the girls’ supper. 

“ ’Tis well your parents had courage to let you 
come, and you must rest, and get early to bed. 
I will go to the powder-house and bring back as 
much as you can carry, and I will go with you a 
part of the way to-morrow,” she added, and Re- 
becca and Danna thanked her gratefully. After 
they had eaten their porridge they were quite 


OF OLD MAINE 195 

ready to bathe their tired feet in the hot water 
their hostess had ready, and go to bed, although 
the sun Avas yet an hour above the horizon. 

While the girls slept Mrs. Getchell hurried 
to the other houses of the settlement, telling the 
story of the two courageous girls who had come 
through the forest on their patriotic errand. 

“ ’Tis hardly to be believed,” she declared. 
“ These little maids are brave as soldiers, and 
they will carry the powder and shot back in good 
time to be of use. General Washington shall 
hear of them, and the Province of Maine will not 
forget their names.” 

The women and children listened eagerly, and 
all were anxious for a sight of the little maids 
who had shown such courage and hardihood. 
But Mrs. Getchell declared that they must not 
be disturbed, or they would not be equal to the 
return journey on the next day. 

“ But you can all come in the morning and see 
them start for Machias,” she said, and with the 
powder and shot, ten pounds of each, safely 
packed, she returned home. 

It was broad daylight when Rebecca and Anna 
awoke. Mrs. Getchell had breakfast ready for 
them, and they enjoyed the hot batter cakes and 


196 


A LITTLE MAW 

maple syrup and the rich milk. They had not 
finished eating when a murmur of voices outside 
the door made them look up in surprise. 

“ ’Tis the women and children/’ explained 
Mrs. Getchell smilingly. “ They have come to 
wish you good fortune.” 

Rebecca and Anna hardly knew what to say 
as the women of the settlement entered the big 
kitchen, and with friendly smiles praised the two 
girls for their courage and loyalty. Boys and 
girls of their own age gathered about the door- 
way and looked at them admiringly; and when 
Mrs. Getchell said it was time to start, and with 
Rebby and Anna led the way toward the river, 
young and old followed them. One of the older 
women slipped a slender gold chain around 
Anna’s neck, saying: “ Wear it, dear little maid, 
to remind you that there is no sacrifice too great 
to make for America’s freedom.” And a little 
girl of about Rebecca’s age shyly pressed a little 
purse into her hand. “ ’Tis a golden sovereign 
that my mother bade me give you,” she said, 
“ and my mother says that always the children 
of Maine will remember what you have done for 
America’s cause.” 

Rebby hardly knew what to reply. “ If they 


OF OLD MAINE 


197 


knew that I set the liberty tree afloat they would 
not praise me,” she thought unhappily. 

A short distance beyond the settlement the 
women and children bade the girls good-bye, with 
many good wishes for their safe return to 
IVIachias. But Mrs. Getchell was to go on with 
them for a part of their journey. 

As Rebby and Anna turned to wave their 
hands to these new friends a loud cheer went up, 
the boys waving their caps and the girls calling: 
“ Good luck to the brave little maids from 
Machias.” 

Mrs. Getchell went on with them for several 
miles, carrying the powder and shot, and a flat 
package containing food for their journey. She 
told them to follow the river down, as that trail 
was more traveled and over smother ground, al- 
though farther to travel than the forest trail; 
and kissing the girls good-bye, after they had 
promised to visit her “ as soon as the English had 
been sent home,” she turned back toward the 
settlement. 

Rebby and Danna watched Mrs. Getchell’s 
stout figure until it was hidden by the forest, and 
then, more serious and anxious than at any time 
during their perilous undertaking, they picked 


198 


A LITTLE MAID 

up the heavy packages that Mrs. Getchell had 
placed on the trunk of a fallen tree, and pre- 
pared to continue their journey. 

The shot was in two strong bags, while the 
powder, in order that it might be kept perfectly 
dry and safe, was in two tin canisters, each one 
carefully sewn up in stout sailcloth. Mrs. 
Getchell had fastened a stout strap to each bag 
of powder and a bag of shot. These straps went 
over the girls’ shoulders, and made them easier to 
carry than in any other way. It was of course a 
tough job for each girl to carry ten pounds for 
the long distance that lay before them, but they 
pushed on valiantly. 

At first the river trail was fairly smooth, and 
they made good progress, but after a few miles 
they encountered a long stretch of rocky ground. 
Here they had to clamber over high ledges, or 
else go a long distance out of their way. Before 
noonday Rebby declared that she could not go 
another step, and sat down at the foot of a high 
mass of rocks over which they must climb. 

“ You will have to go on and leave me, Danna,” 
she said. “ My feet won’t go, they are so tired; 
and my shoulders ache.” 

The day had grown very warm; there was not 


OF OLD MAINE 


199 


a breath of air, and Anna owned that she had 
never seen so difficult a trail. Mrs. Getchell had 
warned them to be sure and keep in sight of the 
river and it would lead them straight to Machias. 
As Anna looked at her sister she began to fear 
that they might not be able to reach home before 
night, and she knew all the danger and peril that 
a night spent in that lonely spot would mean. 

They had not found a spring or brook since 
leaving Mrs. Getchell, and they were both very 
thirsty as well as tired and hungry. 

“We will take a good rest, Rebby, and eat our 
luncheon. I saw Mrs. Getchell stirring up a 
molasses cake while we ate breakfast,” said Anna, 
encouragingly, “ and she put a tin dipper with 
the luncheon. See!” and Anna held up the 
small cup-shaped dish. “ I’ll fetch you a drink 
from the river,” she added, and putting her bur- 
den of powder and shot on the ground beside 
Rebby, she made her way down the steep bank of 
the river. 

The bank was covered by a thick growth of 
alders, with here and there a small spruce tree. 
Anna wondered how she would ever manage to 
bring a cup filled with water up that bank; but 
she kept on, and was soon at the river’s edge. 


200 


A LITTLE MAID 


The rushing water was clear and cool, and Anna 
drank thirstily. Then she bathed her face and 
hands, slipped off her moccasins and stockings 
and dipped her feet in the cool stream. She felt 
rested and refreshed, as with the tin cup filled 
with water, and covered with a broad leaf of a 
water-lily, she made her careful way back to 
where she had left her sister. 

Rebby had taken off her hat and moccasins. 
She drank the water eagerly before saying a 
word. 

“ I feel better already,” she said, ‘‘ and by the 
time we have eaten our lunch I know we can 
start. We must'" she added soberly, “ for if we 
do not get home before dark Father will surely 
start after us.” 

Danna was opening the package of food and 
made no response, but she was wondering if 
Rebby could really hold out until they reached 
the settlement. “ I couldn’t leave her alone,” 
the little girl thought a little fearfully, wonder- 
ing if their long journey was, after all, to end in 
failure. For she knew that if they did not reach 
Machias by the early evening their attempt to aid 
the settlement would have been in vain. 

“ Look, Rebby ! White bread, spread with 


201 


OF OLD MAINE 

butter/’ she said, as she unfastened the package, 
“ and here are slices of chicken, and big squares 
of molasses cake,” and Rebby smiled at her little 
sister’s evident delight. The two girls thor- 
oughly enjoyed the excellent food, and when the 
last crumb had been eaten Rebecca declared her- 
self rested, and ready to start on. 

As she picked up her moccasins she exclaimed : 
“ Oh, Danna! ” in so tragic a tone that her sister 
looked at her with frightened eyes. 

“ What is it, Rebby? ” she whispered. 

‘‘A hole in my moccasin. Look! ” and Rebby 
held up the moccasin, showing a long narroy^ slit 
on the sole. “ These awful rocks ! I can never 
walk without cutting my foot, and then I can’t 
walk at all.” 

“ I can fix it,” Danna declared instantly. 
“ Give it to me, Rebby; quick!” and the elder 
sister obeyed. 

Danna reached into the pocket of her doeskin 
skirt and drew out her sharp clasp-knife; very 
carefully she cut a broad strip from the top of 
Rebby’s moccasin, and skilfully fitted it inside 
over the sole. 

‘‘ I saw Father do this very thing once,” she 
said. “ It will surely last until we reach home.” 


202 


A LITTLE MAID 


“ I knew I could never make this trip without 
you, Danna,” Rebby said gratefully. “ You are 
as wise as a real little Indian girl.” 

They went on now at a slower pace, for both 
girls realized that if Rebby was again overcome 
by heat and fatigue that it might be impossible 
for her to continue. Even Danna owned to her- 
self that she had never been so tired. The strap 
across her shoulders, supporting the heavy load, 
pressed heavily and at times became almost un- 
bearable; but not for a moment did it occur to 
Danna to relinquish the burden. 

They had left the rocky stretch behind them 
and come out to a comparatively smooth pasture. 
The deep forest lay on their right; to the left was 
the sloping bank leading to the river. Suddenly 
Anna stopped short and grasped Rebby’s arm; 
a second later a deer leaped directly across their 
path and plunged down the bank, followed by a 
leaping, panting creature that hardly seemed to 
touch the ground. 

“A bear!” whispered Rebby with frightened 
eyes. 

“ Hurry, Rebby,” responded Danna, and the 
girls, forgetting their tired feet and lame shoul- 
ders, sped silently over the open pasture land. 


OF OLD MAINE 


203 


Danna was the first to speak, but it was in a 
whisper: “ We need not fear, Rebby. He was 
after the deer.” 

Rebby made no response. More fully than 
ever the elder girl realized the peril into which she 
had led her younger sister. But nevertheless she 
whispered to herself that it was the only way : the 
powder and shot were all that could save the 
settlement from the hands of the enemy. 

The girls did not stop again to rest, nor did 
they speak until they reached the top of a rise of 
ground from which they could see the first houses 
of the settlement. The sun was dropping behind 
the tall pines on the western side of the river, and 
they could see the Polly and Unity as they lay 
at anchor in the harbor. 

“ We are safe now, Danna,” said Rebby thank- 
fully, and the sisters smiled at each other happily. 

“ Can’t we leave the powder and shot here? ” 
pleaded Danna, twisting the uncomfortable strap 
into an easier position. ‘‘ Father would come 
and get it, and it’s so heavy.” 

But Rebby shook her head. “ It would not be 
safe. We must carry it straight home,” she 
said; so, with a sigh of endurance, Danna 
started on. 


204 


A LITTLE MAID 


They were now in the broad trail that led 
straight to the little settlement, and before they 
reached the first house they saw a tall figure 
striding toward them. It was Mr. Weston, and 
in a moment their load of powder and shot was 
swung over his shoulders, Rebby was clasping 
one hand and Anna the other, and they were both 
talking at once, trying to tell him the story of 
their journey. 

Their mother came running down the path to 
meet them, and clasped them in her thankful em- 
brace. The Westons had not told their neigh- 
bors of the girls’ undertaking, thinking it wiser 
to await their return; but as soon as Rebby and 
Anna were safely indoors their father hastened 
away to tell the men of the settlement that a 
supply of powder and shot had been brought to 
Machias by his courageous daughters. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


TRIUMPH 

The day following the return of Rebecca and 
Anna Weston from their perilous and difficult 
undertaking to bring the much needed powder 
and shot to JNIachias Avas Sunday, the eleventh of 
June, 1775. 

Very early that morning there was an air of 
unusual excitement about the little settlehient. 
It Avas known that the English officers from the 
gunboat Avould attend service in the meeting- 
house that morning; and the Machias men had 
decided, Avith the approval of Parson Lyon, to 
surround the church and capture them before 
they had time to carry out their plans against 
the settlement. 

Rebby and Danna Avere eating their breakfast 
Avhen Captain Benjamin Foster appeared at the 
kitchen door, saying that he had come to thank 
them for their courageous effort to aid the men 
in defending their rights. As he entered the 
205 


206 


A LITTLE MAID 


room the girls jumped up from their seats at the 
table and curtseyed; and as he went on to praise 
their loyalty and valor, the two little girls, hand 
in hand, stood before him with downcast eyes, 
flushed and happy at his approving words. 

In spite of anxious thoughts as to the result of 
the conflict between the men of Machias and the 
English soldiers, Mrs. Weston was very proud 
and happy that morning as she walked to church 
with Rebecca and Anna beside her. Many 
neighbors stopped them to praise the little girls, 
and all declared that the people of the settle- 
ment would always remember what they had 
done. 

Even Parson Lyon and his wife were waiting 
at the church door to speak to the two little 
heroines ; and Melvina and Luretta felt as if they 
shared in their friends’ honors as they walked up 
the aisle of the church beside them. 

Before the English officers had landed from 
their boat a number of the Machias men had 
quietly hidden their guns in the building; while 
Captain Benjamin Foster, with men armed and 
ready for action, were concealed among the tall 
pines close at hand, ready to surround the church 
and seize the English officers; and had they taken 


OF OLD MAINE 


207 


London Atus into their confidence this well-pre- 
pared scheme might have succeeded. 

But London was entirely innocent of any trou- 
ble near at hand. From his place in a side pew 
he kept a watchful eye upon Melvina, and per- 
haps wondered a little at all the attention lavished 
on the little Weston girls. 

Rebby saw Captain and Mrs. Horton and 
Lucia, with Captain Jones, enter the church. 
Lucia did not look toward the group of girls 
seated in the Westons’ pew. The Hortons were 
no longer trusted by their neighbors, and after 
that morning in church they vanished from the 
community and never returned. 

Rebby’s glance now rested on London. How 
queerly he looked, she thought wonderingly. He 
was leaning sideways peering out of an open 
window. As Rebecca watched him he rose to his 
feet with a loud cry, and before any restraining 
word could reach him he had leaped through the 
ojDen window. 

In a moment all was confusion. There were 
loud cries of “ Stop him! ” Men rushed from the 
church, but the English officers, followed by Cap- 
tain Jones and the Hortons, had, scrambled 
through the open windows and were well on their 


208 


A LITTLE MAID 

flight toward their boats, which they reached in 
safety, although numerous shots were fired after 
them. The gunboat at once turned her guns on 
the town. Shot after shot echoed across the 
quiet waters of the harbor, but the range was too 
long, and no harm was done. 

The women and children huddled in the pews 
of the church, until Parson Lyon, musket in 
hand, came up from the shore to tell them that all 
was quiet and to return to their homes. 

INIelvina and Anna left the church together, 
and Luretta and Rebby followed with Mrs. 
Weston. Melvina said good-bye to her friends 
very soberly, and clasped her father’s hand very 
closely as they walked toward home. 

“ Will the English soldiers shoot down our 
liberty pole. Father? ” she asked. 

“ The English captain has sent us word that 
we are to take it down before sunset, so that he 
may be saved that trouble,” replied Parson Lyon, 
his tone indicating that he considered the Eng- 
lish captain’s remark as an amusing utterance, 
not to be seriously considered. 

“ But it will not be taken down,” said Mel- 
vina confidently. 

“ Indeed it will not. And had that scamp 


OF OLD MAINE 


209 


London but held his peace instead of mistaking 
Captain Foster’s men for an armed enemy 
marching upon us, the English would be our 
prisoners at this moment,” declared her father. 
“ But that is but postponed,” he added quietly, 
“ and to-morrow morning Machias men will give 
the English captain a lesson.” 

There were many anxious hearts in the settle- 
ment that night, for it had been determined that 
in the early dawn of the following morning the 
men should seize the sloop Unity, and make the 
attempt to capture the English gunboat. N either 
Rebecca nor Anna knew of this plan; and, sttll 
tired from their journey, as well as by the ex- 
citement that morning at the church, they were 
glad to go early to bed and were soon sound 
asleep. Mrs. Weston, unable to sleep, waited 
in the kitchen for her husband’s return. For 
Mr. Weston and his neighbors were busy with 
their preparations for the coming battle. It was 
decided that Captain O’Brien should take com- 
mand of the sloop, and before the sun rose the 
next morning forty Machias men were on board 
the Unity, Half this number were armed with 
broad-axes and pitchforks; the remainder had 
muskets. 


210 


A LITTLE MAID 


It was just at sunrise when a warning shot 
from the gunboat reverberated along the harbor, 
and Rebecca awakened suddenly. She realized 
at once that the conflict had begun. In an in- 
stant she was out of bed, slipped quickly into her 
clothing, and leaving Danna sound asleep, she 
sped down the path and along the trail to the 
high bluff that commanded a view of the harbor. 

There was a favoring wind and the Unity, 
with her crew of untrained men, was now in full 
chase of a vessel well-armed and equipped. On 
swept the sloop, and a sudden volley of musketry 
from her deck astonished and confused the 
enemy. The gunboat swerved, and the bowsprit 
of the Unity plunged into her mainsail, holding 
the two vessels together for a brief moment. 

Rebecca, standing on the bluff, shouted aloud. 
She was sure that the moment of triumph for the 
Machias men was close at hand. But victory 
was not so easily achieved; the vessels suddenly 
parted, and now a storm of bullets rained upon 
the Unity, 

Captain O’Brien swung the sloop alongside 
the Margaretta and twenty of his men armed 
with pitchforks sprang to the enemy’s deck. A 
hand-to-hand conflict ensued. Surprised by the 


OF OLD MAINE 


211 


dauntless valor of the Machias men the English 
were forced to yield. The English flag was 
pulled down amid triumphant shouts of the 
Americans; the wounded were cared for, and 
English officers and crew made prisoners of war. 

When Rebecca saw the English flag vanish 
from the gunboat’s mast and heard the resound- 
ing cheers, she Imew that the Americans had con- 
quered their enemy, and that the liberty tree 
would stand unchallenged. But she did not 
realize that she had been a witness to the first 
naval exploit in America after the battle of 
Lexington. 

All the women and children and such men as 
had been left behind, were now hurrying to\Yard 
the wharves. Cheer after cheer rang out across 
the harbor as the Unity and the captured gunboat 
came slowly to their anchorage. 

Mrs. Weston and Anna came hurrying down 
the path and Rebby ran to meet them. 

‘‘I saw the battle. Mother!” she exclaimed 
eagerly. “ I was on the bluff and saw it all.” 
But before Mrs. Weston could respond to this 
astonishing statement a boat-load of men from 
the Unity had landed. 

‘‘ Your father is safe,” whispered Mrs. Wes- 


212 


A LITTLE MAID 


ton, “ and now let me see of what use I can be to 
the wounded men. Rebby, take Anna back to 
the house and stay there until I come.” 

The two little girls walked silently back to the 
house. The battle that had been so feared was 
over; the enemy was conquered, and Rebecca and 
Amna knew that by their bringing the powder 
from Chandler’s River they had helped to win 
the conflict. But just then they did not think 
of that. They could think only of the wounded 
men, who had been so carefully brought on shore 
by their companions. 

On the following day the inhabitants, such as 
were not caring for the wounded English and 
American soldiers, gathered at the liberty pole. 
It was a quiet and reverent gathering. Several 
men of the settlement had been wounded, and 
two had given their lives for America’s cause. 
Parson Lyon gave loving tribute to these heroes, 
as he offered thanks for the triumph of loyalty. 

And then, before all the people, he praised 
Rebecca and Anna Weston for their courage in 
undertaking the difficult and dangerous journey 
through the wilderness to bring aid to the settle- 
ment. 

“ Step forward, Rebecca and Anna Weston,” 


OF OLD MAINE 


213 


he said smilingly; and, a little fearfully, the sis- 
ters, hand in hand, left their mother’s side and 
approached the liberty pole. Taking each by 
the hand Parson Lyon smiled down upon them. 

There was a little murmur of approval among 
the people, and one by one the older members of 
the congregation came forward and praised the 
little girls. 

“ It is Rebby who should be praised, not me,” 
Anna insisted. “ It is not fair for me to be 
praised.” While Rebecca, in her turn, declared 
eagerly that she could never have brought home 
the powder without Anna’s help. 

There were many hard and troublous days 
ahead for the little settlement, but their courage 
did not falter. The valor of the Machias men 
was speedily recognized by the Provincial Con- 
gress of Massachusetts, who, on June 26, 1775, 
passed a resolution extending to them the thanks 
of the Congress for their courageous conduct. 
The news of the brilliant victory was heralded 
throughout the land, stimulating the colonists 
everywhere to emulate the example of the coura- 
geous settlers of Machias. 

Rebecca often thought of her former friend, 
Lucia Horton; but she never told the story of 
the night when, misled by Lucia’s plausible story. 


214 


A LITTLE MAID 


she had tried to defeat the loyalty of the settlers 
by setting their liberty tree adrift. As she 
looked up at the tall sapling, the emblem of the 
loyalty of the settlement, she was proud indeed 
that she had been of use in its protection. 

Anna’s gold chain was her greatest treasure. 
It was shown to every little girl in the settlement, 
and each one knew its story. The golden sover- 
eign given to Rebecca was no less highly prized. 

“ That sovereign has a value beyond money. 
It is a medal for valor,” her father said; and on 
the year when peace was firmly established be- 
tween England and America Rebecca’s golden 
sovereign was smoothed, and upon it these words 
were engraved: 

Presented 

to 

A Brave Little 
Maid of Maine, 

For Loyalty, 

June, 1775 


The Stories in this Series are : 

A LITTLE MAID OF PROVINCE TOWN. 

A LITTLE MAID OF MASSACHUSETTS COLONY. 
A LITTLE MAID OF NARRAGANSETT BAY. 

A LITTLE MAID OF BUNKER HILL. 

A LITTLE MAID OF TICONDEROGA. 

A LITTLE MAID OF OLD CONNECTICUT. 

A LITTLE MAID OF OLD PHILADELPHIA. 

A LITTLE MAID OF OLD MAINE. 





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